Portugal now taxes non-resident home buyers at a flat 7.5%

Since May 2026, a buyer who is not, and has never been, tax-resident in Portugal pays transfer tax (IMT) at a flat 7.5% on a home, without the usual exemptions or reductions; the ordinary scale starts at 1%. If the buyer becomes resident within two years or lets at a capped rent for three of the first five years, the tax authority cancels the difference on request.

Cyprus, Malta and Switzerland run permit regimes reaching a buyer living in Vietnam.

Seven countries at a glance

The comparison assumes a Vietnamese national living in Vietnam who buys a home in their own name, outside any residence-by-investment route, under rules in force on 9 October 2026. Residence through property, Greece’s announced 15% transfer tax for third-country buyers and Malta’s EUR 700,000 threshold for a special tax status are covered in separate articles.

Portugal: residence, not nationality, sets the rate

Decree-Law 97/2026, published on 20 May 2026, added the rate to Article 17 of the IMT Code for a non-resident buying an urban building or unit intended exclusively for housing, with three exceptions. A buyer previously tax-resident in Portugal pays the ordinary rates under the decree-law itself, as a tax authority circular of 4 September 2026 confirms.

The other two exceptions apply after the purchase. If the buyer becomes tax-resident within two years, or within six months lets the home as housing at a monthly rent of no more than 2.5 times the 2026 minimum wage, for at least 36 months in the first five years, the tax authority cancels on request the difference between the 7.5% paid and the ordinary rates.

The request is due within six months of becoming resident or signing the lease.

The ordinary scale for a home that is not the buyer’s permanent residence runs from 1% on the first EUR 106,346 through marginal rates of up to 8%, then a single 6% on homes between EUR 633,931 and EUR 1,150,853 and a single 7.5% above that.

At these rates, a non-resident buying a EUR 500,000 flat now pays EUR 37,500 in IMT against about EUR 27,300 on the ordinary scale; above EUR 1,150,853 the rate is 7.5% either way. Stamp duty of 0.8% is charged on the acquisition.

The land registry’s contact point, in an undated answer published by the European Land Registry Association, says Portugal imposes no limitation on foreign buyers.

Municipalities charge annual IMI of 0.3% to 0.45% of tax value, and in urban-pressure zones may add up to 25% on a home that is neither let nor the owner’s permanent residence. AIMI falls on residential property above EUR 600,000 per individual, at 0.7% rising to 1.5%, whatever the owner’s residence.

Spain: defence zones and a lapsed 100% bill

No general permit requirement was found in Spain, but a 1975 defence law requires military authorisation for acquisitions by foreign individuals, other than EU nationals, in zones with restricted access for foreigners. The test is nationality, so it reaches a Vietnamese buyer wherever they live.

Under the 1978 regulation the zones cover every island, six mainland areas including Galicia and both land borders, and the North African territories, but not existing urban centres of towns away from the border. Notaries and registrars must see the authorisation; acts without it are void.

A resale home carries regional transfer tax: 6% in Madrid; in Catalonia 10% up to EUR 600,000, rising on a scale to 13%, and 20% for “large holders”, owners of more than 10 homes or more than 1,500 m² of housing in Catalonia.

Each year a non-resident owner pays municipal property tax (IBI) of 0.4% to 1.10% of cadastral value, and income tax on a deemed income of 2% of that value, or 1.1% where it has been revised recently, at 24% for residents outside the EU and EEA, with no expenses deductible, according to the tax agency.

Wealth tax applies to Spanish assets above EUR 700,000, at 0.2% to 3.5% or under regional rules.

A bill tabled in May 2025 would have taxed purchases of Spanish property by individuals and entities not resident in the EU at 100%, less the transfer tax paid. It never cleared its first plenary stage, and Congress records it as lapsed from 6 October 2026, the day the decree dissolving the Cortes was published; elections are called for 29 November.

Royal Decree-law 29/2026, in force since 8 October and awaiting validation, does not contain that tax, according to a search of its text.

If validated, it lets town halls in stressed housing markets add up to 50% to IBI on homes left permanently empty, with second-home use excusing up to four years, and from 2027 replaces the flat deemed-income rate with a scale of 1.1% to 3%. This indicates that the new scale would also reach non-resident owners, who are taxed on that deemed income.

Italy: a reciprocity condition appears met under general ministry guidance

No permit procedure was found in Italy, but its civil code’s preliminary provisions admit a foreigner to a citizen’s civil rights “on condition of reciprocity” (Article 16), a condition lawful residents do not face.

The foreign ministry’s guidance says no check is needed for nationals of countries with an investment-protection agreement with Italy, for the matters the agreement covers, and lists real estate among common forms of investment. Its Vietnam sheet lists such an agreement, signed in 1990 and in force since 1994, but says nothing specific about property.

Since Vietnam has such an agreement, this indicates that the ministry would treat a Vietnamese buyer as meeting the condition. The guidance says it has no legal value, the sheet’s file data show it last changed in 2020, and it notes that the EU–Vietnam investment protection agreement will end the Italian treaty once in force.

Buying from a private seller costs 9% registration tax, at least EUR 1,000, plus EUR 100 in fixed taxes (revenue agency).

The municipal property tax (IMU) spares a main home, other than in luxury categories, where the owner is registered and lives. This means a non-resident’s home pays the rate for other buildings, 0.86% as standard and up to 1.06%, or 1.14% where a municipality has absorbed a former surcharge (finance ministry).

France: duties of about 6% and a property wealth tax

No official statement was obtained on whether a foreign individual needs permission to buy in France. The tax texts consulted set out how owners domiciled abroad are taxed without mentioning a permit.

Departments charge transfer duty of 3.80% to 5.00% on an existing home under the tax authority’s table at 1 June 2026; the 5% rate is allowed for deeds signed up to 31 March 2028.

With a communal tax of 1.20% and a state levy of 2.37% of the departmental duty, the total is about 6.3% at 5%, according to the Conseil supérieur du notariat, the notaries’ professional body. The 1.20% rate was not found in an official text.

Owners pay property tax, and a second home also bears housing tax, with a surcharge of 5% to 60% that 1,666 of the 3,689 eligible municipalities in tight markets apply in 2026.

The real-estate wealth tax (IFI) applies where net property exceeds EUR 1.3 million, at 0.5% to 1.5% on value above EUR 800,000; an owner domiciled abroad pays it on French property only, and the cap on it is reserved to people domiciled in France (service-public).

Switzerland: a holiday home, within a quota

Under Lex Koller, the federal law on property purchases by persons abroad, nationals of states outside the EU and EFTA without the right to settle need cantonal authorisation (BewG). The Federal Office of Justice says in its consultation report that a foreigner domiciled abroad may in principle not buy a main residence, and in its FAQ that buying homes to let or invest is excluded.

A buyer living in Vietnam is left with a holiday home or aparthotel unit in tourist localities designated by one of 17 cantons, within a national ceiling of 1,500 authorisations a year, of which about a third has been used since 2014 and which cantons and communes may further restrict or freeze, or a second home where the buyer has exceptionally close ties.

A holiday home is limited as a rule to 200 m² of living space, one per family, in the buyer’s own name and not let year-round, and gives no right to residence.

A consultation on tightening the law ran from 15 April to 15 July 2026; the draft would halve the ceiling and bring main homes bought by third-country nationals under authorisation. As of 9 October the Federal Office of Justice’s revision page lists consultation opinions but no bill sent to Parliament.

Separately, the National Council adopted in September 2026, against the Federal Council’s recommendation, the first point of a motion to reverse 40 years of relaxations, now before a Council of States committee.

Cantonal transfer tax, where proportional, runs from 1% to 3.3%; eight cantons, including Zurich and Ticino, charge only fees (federal tax administration). An owner without Swiss tax domicile is taxable in the property’s canton, for wealth tax and, in more than half the cantons, property tax of 0.1‰ to 3‰.

A second home kept for the owner’s use is taxed on its imputed rental value until 1 January 2029, when cantons may instead tax second homes. This indicates that the imputed-rent tax also reaches non-residents, although no text found says so directly.

Cyprus: Council of Ministers permission

Under Cap. 109, as consolidated on the Cyprus Bar Association’s legal database, an “alien”, which excludes EU citizens, may not acquire immovable property other than on death without the prior permission of the Council of Ministers, and a registration in breach is void. Regulations of 1990 and 1997 allow a flat or house for the buyer’s own occupation on up to three donums of land.

The land registry’s contact point, in an undated answer published by the European Land Registry Association, puts that at 4,014 m² and says a married couple receives one permit.

According to the same answer, since a 2012 ministry announcement non-EU buyers may acquire more than one unit, such as two homes in the same development, and the application goes through the District Officer after the sale contract.

Transfer fees are 3% up to EUR 85,000, 5% to EUR 170,000 and 8% above, halved in all cases and not due where VAT was paid (Department of Lands and Surveys). Stamp duty was repealed from 1 January 2026 by Law 239(I)/2025, as published on CyLaw. The national immovable property tax was abolished from 2017.

Malta: a minister’s permit outside designated areas

Malta treats any individual who is not a citizen of Malta or another EU state, unless holding long-term resident status, as a “non-resident person” who may not acquire immovable property without a permit from the finance minister (Cap. 246).

The minister may not withhold one where the home will be the residence of the buyer and family, the buyer owns no other Maltese property, and its value reaches a minimum set in 1999 (EUR 70,000 for an apartment and EUR 117,000 for other property in the 2007 euro conversion) and adjusted by a price index with a 2004 base that stood at 287.89 on 1 April 2026.

Today’s figures in euro could not be established.

The minister may still refuse property he considers of historical importance. The home must be used solely as the family’s residence and bought within six months. No permit is needed in the 27 Special Designated Areas.

Duty is 5%. The 3.5% rate and the first-time buyer exemption on the first EUR 200,000 are open only to buyers who need no permit, and not to non-residents buying in a designated area (Cap. 364).

What this article has not established

The exact day in May 2026 on which Portugal’s rate took effect was not established. The absence of a general permit rests, in Portugal, on the land registry’s answer and, in Spain and Italy, on the texts consulted.

It was not established whether Spain’s Congress will validate Royal Decree-law 29/2026, which authority now issues military authorisations, which municipalities lie in the zones, or what rates apply outside Madrid and Catalonia. The bill’s lapse is linked to the dissolution by date only.

Whether the EU–Vietnam investment protection agreement is in force, and whether Italy’s sheet is current, were not established.

For France, no official statement on permission was obtained; the 1.20% communal rate rests on the notaries’ figures, and the tax authority gives the state levy as 2.37% or 2.14%.

No text found says Swiss imputed-rent tax reaches non-resident owners, and the Swiss motion’s dates are converted from a parliamentary data feed.

The exact 2026 condition for Spain’s 1.1% deemed-income rate and the finer limbs of Catalonia’s large-holder test were not pinned down.

In Cyprus, the 4,014 m² conversion, the unit policy and the procedure rest on the land registry’s answer, and fee bands are matched to rates by their order in its document. No Tax Department notice on stamp duty or figure for municipal charges was found.

Malta’s thresholds in euro and any annual tax on residential property were not established.