Taken from: A New Place to Call Home Residency options and implications for high net worth individuals
Virtual Round Table Series Private Client Working Group 2017
In Portugal, anybody from anywhere can buy real estate. The buyer will pay a transaction tax of 6 or 6.5 per cent plus stamp duty at 0.8 per cent. Brokers will charge 5 per cent, but are always paid by the seller. Typical conveyance and due diligence fees by lawyers will be anything from 1 per cent to 2.5 per cent of the purchasing price. Deeds are always performed by a notary unless you buy with bank financing in which case the deed can be entered at the bank. All real estate transactions are registered both at the tax office and at a central land registry. Investors who buy to let will pay a flat tax of 28 per cent on net income deducted from expenses related to the property (condo, estate tax, repairs), plus a capital gains tax of 28 per cent upon selling with a profit. To be part of the golden visa programme
I mentioned earlier, you must invest in Portuguese real estate to the amount of 500,000 euros and in some cases only 350,000 euros. This provides access to all 26 countries in the EU’s Schengen area without a visa and is attractive for non-EU citizens. The good thing about the programme is that you can sell the property at any time, rent it out or mortgage it, as long as you maintain an investment of 500,000 euros free of encumbrances. Portuguese banks are offering eligible foreign buyers in selected properties loans up to 75 per cent of the value of the property. Interest rates are now between 2.5 and 3.5 per cent. Property in Portugal is hot right now. We have seen large numbers of Brazilian, French, Italian, Chinese and Turkish people investing, because of affordable property prices, political stability and a most open, secure and friendly society
