Technical article

Buying a Home in Cyprus, France or Portugal: What the Official Pages Say It Costs

What does the purchase cost before they pick up the keys?

By Neil Solomon · 5 min read

Picture a couple named Dale and Joan. Both are 63, and they have EUR 400,000 set aside for a home in southern Europe. Cyprus, France and Portugal are on their list. Before they argue about a mortgage or cash, they want one answer. What does the purchase cost before they pick up the keys?

I read the official pages for each country. Some gave clear figures. Others gave only a summary, and I tell you which is which.

Portugal: a tax that depends on how you use the home

The Portuguese tax authority publishes the property transfer tax (IMT) table. The page was dated 9 October 2026. For a home bought as the permanent residence, the first EUR 106,346 carries 0%. After that the rate climbs in steps.

The page calls the lower rates marginal and the top two flat. The same page also says, in a clause I could read only as a summary, that non-resident buyers of housing pay a flat 7.5%, with listed exceptions. If that applies to you, it changes the picture a lot. An accountant or lawyer who works with Americans abroad could confirm it.

France: purchase taxes and a lending cap

On a home that is not new, one official page lists the commune share at 1.20% and the department share at 3.80%, which a department may set between 1.20% and 5%. It gives a top combined rate of 6.32%. Since 1 April 2025, and for deeds signed up to 31 March 2028, departments may raise the normal rate to 5% from 4.50%. New homes carry a much lower rate, with a department share of 0.70%.

Another official page, from the tax office, gives a different set. It lists a department share of 1.20% to 4.50%, a commune share of 1.20% and a top combined rate of 5.81%, plus a separate 0.10% contribution. That page shows a date of 2016. I show both and do not pick. The notary's own pay is on top, and it is set by bands: 3.870% on the first EUR 6,500, then 1.596%, 1.064% and 0.799% above EUR 60,000 (rates as of 1 January 2021).

For Portugal, a search extract of the Banco de Portugal's pages on its macroprudential measure, read 11 October 2026, gives a loan-to-value limit of 90% for a main and permanent home and 80% for other housing credit, a debt-service-to-income limit of 50% with listed exceptions and a maximum term of 40 years, and mentions a 2026 recommendation that lowers the income limit to 45%. The extract is not the bank's own text, so a person should open Recomendação Macroprudencial n.º 1/2026 on the bank's site for the exact limits and the date from which they apply.

For borrowers in France, the financial stability council set two limits in its decision of 29 September 2021. Payments should not pass 35% of income, and the loan should not run past 25 years. Banks may go beyond that for up to 20% of what they lend each quarter. The sources do not show whether a later decision has changed this, or whether banks treat buyers living abroad differently.

Cyprus: fees, and a permit for buyers from outside the European Union

The Department of Lands and Surveys lists a transfer fee of 3% up to EUR 85,000, 5% from EUR 85,000 to EUR 170,000 and 8% above that (a search extract of the department's portal, read 11 October 2026). The government's own service page for the fee calculator, read the same day, adds two rules. A transaction that is subject to VAT is fully exempt from transfer fees. A transaction that is not subject to VAT gets a 50% reduction, which the calculator does not apply. So the fee you pay depends on whether the seller charges VAT, and the department says to ask the seller before you sign.

My arithmetic, for a home at EUR 250,000 with no VAT: 3% of the first EUR 85,000 is EUR 2,550, 5% of the next EUR 85,000 is EUR 4,250 and 8% of the last EUR 80,000 is EUR 6,400, for EUR 13,200 before the 50% reduction and EUR 6,600 after it.

For buyers who are citizens of countries outside the European Union, the Ministry of Interior's page says you must get permission from the District Administration of the district where the property lies, on form COMM 145. No fee is payable, and applications take 2 to 3 weeks. A foreign national or couple may be given permission to buy one plot of up to 4,000 square metres for building a home to live in, or up to two units, which may be two dwellings, or one dwelling and a shop of up to 100 square metres, or one dwelling and an office of up to 250 square metres. The limit is in total for a couple. The page lists the papers to attach, among them a survey, the title deed, the planning consent where separate titles have not been issued, the stamped sale contract, floor plans and proof of financial standing.

What this article leaves for another day

• Cyprus: the VAT rate on a new home, which the seller and the Tax Department set case by case.
• France: any rule that limits foreign buyers. The pages I read on purchase taxes do not mention one.
• Cyprus: the monthly total of owning a villa with a pool. No ministry publishes it.