Portugal is one of the more accessible European markets for a foreign buyer to finance. Banks lend to non-residents as a matter of routine, the paperwork is manageable, and the deposit requirement is lower than in several neighbouring markets.
The two things that decide it are the same as everywhere: how much cash you have and how much debt you already carry. Portugal has no credit score, so there is no history to prove and nothing to build.
The quick answers
- Can a foreigner get a mortgage in Portugal? Yes, including non-residents. It is a standard product at the main banks.
- How much will they lend? For non-residents the market generally runs at 60 to 70% of the lower of price or valuation, with a few lenders stretching to 75% for strong profiles. Residents can access more.
- What do I need in cash? The deposit plus roughly 8 to 10% in purchase taxes and fees, which cannot be added to the loan.
- Do I need a Portuguese tax number? Yes — an NIF, before anything else.
- Does my credit score count? No. Portugal uses a central credit register, not a score.
- Is the Golden Visa still available through property? No. The property route was withdrawn; buying does not give you residency.
Can a foreigner get a mortgage in Portugal?
Yes, and non-resident lending is normal business rather than an exception. Portuguese banks have financed foreign buyers along the Algarve, in Lisbon and in Porto for decades.
What changes with residency is the terms, not the availability: a resident with Portuguese income borrows more, over a longer term, at a smaller margin. Nationality itself is rarely the variable. What the bank asks is where you are tax resident, where your income comes from, and what you already owe. American buyers have their own set of questions, covered in best banks in Portugal for US non-residents; the Spanish comparison is in mortgages in Spain for non-residents.
How much will a Portuguese bank lend?
Here the published number and the practical number are not the same, and the gap is worth understanding.
What the banks publish is a ceiling of around 80% for a secondary home — CGD states it in its own conditions: for habitação própria secundária, the lower of 80% of valuation and 80% of price. That matches the Bank of Portugal’s macroprudential limit, which caps non-permanent housing at 80%.
What a non-resident is generally offered is 60 to 70%, with a few lenders stretching to 75%.
So the restriction on a foreign buyer is commercial, not regulatory. Nothing in the rules stops a Portuguese bank lending you 80% — each bank chooses to lend less to a borrower it cannot easily assess or pursue. That matters because it tells you what is negotiable: a stronger file or a lender currently at the top of the range can move it. A regulatory cap could not be moved at all.
The base matters as much as the percentage: the bank lends against the lower of price and valuation, so a valuation below what you agreed becomes cash out of your pocket rather than a smaller purchase.
On top of the deposit:
| Typical range | |
|---|---|
| IMT (property transfer tax) | Banded by price and by whether the property is a main home; the Portuguese tax authority publishes the bands |
| Stamp duty (imposto do selo) | 0.8% of the price, plus a charge on the mortgage itself |
| Notary and registration | Roughly 1% |
| Bank valuation and arrangement fee | Paid up front |
| Total on top of the deposit | roughly 8-10% of the price |
IMT moves most, because the bands treat a main home differently from a second home: the same property is taxed on a different scale depending on why you bought it.
What does the bank assess?
Three things, and none of them is a credit score.
1. Debt-to-income. Your total monthly commitments — anywhere in the world — against your income. Portuguese banks are conservative here, and it is the filter that closes most files. In Upscore’s applications across markets, among applicants whose existing housing costs already took more than 35% of their income, none went on to complete a purchase (n=333).
2. Income stability. Employment contract and payslips, or two to three years of accounts if you are self-employed. Foreign income is normal; it means translations.
3. The property and its purpose. Main home, second home or letting — it affects the tax band, the maximum loan, and sometimes whether the bank is interested at all.
Portugal’s credit register, the Central Credit Register run by Banco de Portugal, records the credit liabilities that lenders report each month. For a first-time foreign buyer it comes back empty, and empty is the good outcome — there is no positive history to accumulate. As in Spain, a credit report from your country of residence may still be requested as a document, read for undeclared debt rather than for a score. Does Europe have credit scores covers how Portugal sits next to its neighbours.
The discount you probably cannot get
This is the part no bank spells out, and it comes from reading their own published conditions rather than from anything they say about non-residents.
Portuguese banks reduce the spread in exchange for a package of products, and the packages require your income to be paid into an account at that bank. CGD’s Pack Vinculação — worth 0.25 percentage points — lists card use, a Caixa account, and domiciliação de rendimentos: your income paid into the CGD account tied to the loan.
A non-resident paid in sterling or dollars by a foreign employer generally cannot satisfy that. Which means the non-resident starts from both a lower loan-to-value and the base spread, while a resident with the same property gets the higher loan and the discounted rate.
Add the insurance package — another 0.25 points at CGD — and the gap between the advertised rate and the one a non-resident is quoted is not a premium for risk. It is the sum of discounts the applicant cannot claim. The advertised rate assumes a customer you are not.
What do you need before you apply?
Start with the NIF. It is the Portuguese tax number, required for the purchase and for opening a bank account, and everything else waits on it.
| What | Detail |
|---|---|
| NIF | Portuguese tax number. First step, and the usual cause of a delayed timeline |
| Passport or ID | Plus proof of address |
| Proof of income | Three to six months of payslips, or two to three years of accounts |
| Bank statements | Six months, every account |
| Every existing debt payment | Wherever it sits in the world |
| Tax returns | Usually the last two years |
| Portuguese bank account | To service the mortgage and the bills |
| Translations | Of income and tax documents, certified |
| Life and buildings insurance | Mandatory, and assigned to the loan. The insurer is your choice — CGD states you may use your own, forfeiting a 0.25 pp spread discount |
A local lawyer is not legally required but is standard practice: the caderneta predial and the checks at the land registry are where one earns their fee. The Bar Association keeps the register.
How long does it take?
Plan in months. Across Upscore’s completed purchases the median is 4.7 months from first enquiry to completion, with a spread from under one month to over a year, and the variation between banks is larger than between markets.
The delay is almost never the credit decision. It is documents, translations and the tax number — all of which you can start before choosing a property.
“We used a mortgage broker and the process was pretty straightforward. We sent heaps of paperwork and ended up with six banks who wanted to work with us. We needed to put 20% down. A lot of people we know had to put 30% down but we got lucky. We also had to get life insurance in addition and it must be Portuguese life insurance.”
— r/PortugalExpats, Have any expats in PT gotten a mortgage there for a home purchase?
Two things in that comment are worth separating. The poster is an expat living in Portugal, which is why 20% down was available to them — a non-resident applying from abroad should plan on the 30 to 40% their acquaintances were quoted. On the insurance, the comment needs one correction. Life and buildings insurance assigned to the loan is mandatory — CGD lists both under seguros obrigatórios. But the insurer is your choice: the same page states that a consumer may take the required policies with an insurer of their preference provided the cover meets the bank’s minimum, in which case they lose the spread discount attached to the bank’s package. So it is not “must be Portuguese insurance” — it is “must be insurance, and using the bank’s is cheaper on the rate”. CGD prices that choice at 0.25 percentage points.
The six-banks detail is the other useful part, and it points at the same thing as the section below.
Which banks lend to non-residents in Portugal?
The main retail banks all have non-resident products, and — as in Spain — two banks can reach different conclusions on the same file, because neither reads a shared score. Each assembles its own view from your documents, which is why applying to a single bank is a weaker strategy in Portugal than it would be in the US or UK.
An honest limit: our completed Portuguese purchases are recorded at market level rather than by lender, so we cannot rank Portuguese banks from our own data the way we can for Spain.
Our guide to the best banks in Portugal for US and non-resident buyers goes bank by bank on what each publishes.
Is buying property still a route to residency?
No. The Golden Visa property route has been withdrawn: buying a home in Portugal does not give you the right to live there, and any page still selling it as a visa is out of date.
That matters for the mortgage because it changes who the buyer is. The market is now second homes, retirement and investment — which is exactly the habitação própria secundária category where the 80% published ceiling applies.
Frequently asked questions
Can I get a mortgage in Portugal as a non-resident?
Yes. Market practice is generally 60 to 70% of the lower of price or valuation, plus 8 to 10% in taxes and fees that cannot be borrowed.
Do I need to be in Portugal to complete?
For the deed, yes — or you grant a power of attorney to a Portuguese lawyer to sign for you, which is common for foreign buyers.
Is a Portuguese mortgage fixed or variable?
Both. Variable is quoted as Euribor plus a spread — Euribor is published daily by the European Money Markets Institute — and fixed is available for a set period. A non-resident servicing a euro loan from foreign income already carries currency risk, which is why fixed is often the calmer choice.
Can I use rental income to qualify?
Usually not. Most banks will not count projected rental income towards what you can borrow, which surprises buyers coming from a UK buy-to-let background.
What is IMT and how much is it?
The property transfer tax, banded by price and by whether the property will be your main home. The bands are published by the Portuguese tax authority and are the largest single cost after the deposit.
The bottom line
Portugal is a straightforward market to finance, and the obstacle is almost never the lending decision. It is the cash — the deposit plus 8 to 10% that cannot be borrowed — and the tax number nobody starts early enough.
Get the NIF moving, add up the full cash requirement first, and apply to more than one bank. The cost calculator puts Portugal’s purchase costs next to Spain’s.
Once you have a specific property in mind, Upscore’s Finance Passport shows which banks in Portugal will approve your profile. It is free and takes under fifteen minutes. If you are financing from Britain, see which UK banks offer overseas mortgages.
