Buying Property in Portugal: What I Learned as a Foreign Buyer

I get asked this question a lot.

Usually over coffee. Usually by someone who has just come back from a week in Lisbon or the Algarve and can't stop thinking about it.

"Can I actually buy property in Portugal? Like, me. A foreigner. Without moving there?"

I know the question because, at one point, I was asking it myself.

The short answer is yes.

Foreigners can buy property in Portugal without becoming residents, without a Portuguese visa and without meeting a minimum property purchase price. The process is open to international buyers, including non-EU citizens, although there are some important tax, financing and legal considerations to understand before buying.

That was the part that initially made buying property in Portugal feel much more accessible than I expected.

What I learned pretty quickly, though, is that easy isn't the same as simple.

There are a few things I wish someone had explained to me before I started looking seriously. So this is the version I'd give you if we were sitting down together over coffee.

Can foreigners buy property in Portugal?

The first thing I wanted to establish was whether I could actually buy property in Portugal as a foreigner.

I could.

Is there a minimum investment to buy property in Portugal?

Portugal does not impose a general nationality restriction on foreign property buyers. I didn't need Portuguese citizenship, residency or a visa simply to purchase a property.

A foreign buyer receives the same deed, land registry entry and legal protections as a Portuguese citizen.

Do you need to live in Portugal to buy property there?

That includes buyers who live outside the European Union.

So whether you're looking at an apartment in Lisbon, a house in the Algarve, a property in Porto or something further inland, the basic right to buy is there.

The important thing is understanding what comes next.

Do foreign buyers need a fiscal representative in Portugal?

Before I could get very far, I needed to get myself into the Portuguese system.

The basic list wasn't particularly long:

• A Portuguese tax number, or NIF
• A Portuguese bank account
• Valid identification
• An independent lawyer

Can you buy property in Portugal remotely?

The Portuguese NIF was the obvious place to start.

The number itself is free from the Autoridade Tributária e Aduaneira, and if you're already in Portugal, the process can be relatively quick.

But doing this from abroad is a little different.

Under Article 19 of the Lei Geral Tributária, non-residents with an address outside the EU or EEA generally need to appoint a fiscal representative in Portugal.

How much can a non-resident borrow to buy property in Portugal?

There is an important detail here that I think gets missed in a lot of explanations about buying property in Portugal.

Decreto-Lei 44/2022 and the tax authority's Ofício Circulado 90057 introduced a waiver for people who sign up for electronic notifications through the Portal das Finanças.

But that waiver only applies if you have no tax obligations in Portugal.

Buying property creates tax obligations, starting with IMI.

So if you're buying property in Portugal, I would treat a fiscal representative as an ongoing cost rather than assuming it's a one-off piece of paperwork.

And I learned this one early:

Get the NIF before you fall in love with a property.

Nothing really moves without it.