Mortgages in Portugal: how much a bank lends and on what rules
A bank can lend up to 90% of a home that will be your main residence and up to 80% of a second home or a property to let. These are Banco de Portugal limits (Recomendação Macroprudencial n.º 1/2026), and they depend on what the home is for, not on where you live. Repayments on all your loans, with a variable or mixed rate stressed upwards, should stay within 45% of your net income, and the term can run to 40 years if you are 35 years or younger and 35 years after that.
How much a bank can lend
The limit is measured against the lower of two figures: the purchase price and the valuation by an approved valuer (Recomendação Macroprudencial n.º 1/2026). If the valuation comes in below the price, you pay the gap yourself, on top of the deposit.
The limits follow the purpose of the loan. A non-resident buying a holiday home or a property to let is capped at 80%, like a resident buying a second home. The current recommendation also removed the exception that let banks lend the full price on properties they were selling themselves: the general limits now apply to those too.
A bank can lend less, and some do for non-residents: BPI states up to 70% for non-resident foreigners, UCI 70%, novobanco 80% for residents and nationals of the EU, the UK, the Schengen area, the US and Canada. A table of seven lenders' terms, with the date each row was checked, is in our article on mortgages for non-residents.
What monthly payment a bank will accept
Banco de Portugal recommends that repayments on all your loans stay within 45% of your monthly income after tax and social security. The new loan goes into that sum at a stressed rate: on a loan of more than ten years at a variable or mixed rate, at least 1.5 percentage points on the index (Instrução n.º 23/2023 do Banco de Portugal); with a mixed rate, the bank uses the stressed payment after the fixed period, or the fixed-period payment if that is higher.
Each bank may exceed the limit on up to 10% of what it lends in a half-year, if it justifies it: the limit is the rule, not an automatic refusal. If you will be over 70 years of age when the loan ends, the bank counts your income as at least 20% lower, in proportion to the years past that age, unless you are already retired.
Term and age
The maximum term is 40 years for borrowers aged up to 35 years and 35 years for older ones; with two borrowers, the older one's age counts (Recomendação Macroprudencial n.º 1/2026). Banks add an age limit at the end of the loan: at Caixa Geral de Depósitos, for example, 75 years.
Example: a non-resident buys a second home
A home at €300,000, a deposit of €60,000, a loan of €240,000 over 30 years, the buyer 38 years old. At the average rate on new housing loans in August 2026, 3%, the monthly payment is €1,011.85. The bank tests it at a stressed rate of 4.5%, which gives €1,216.05; to keep that within 45% of income you need at least €2,782.34 a month, net (stamp duty on the interest included). The 3% rate is the market average: in the non-resident offers in our table the rate is 4.422% at BPI and 4.647% at novobanco, and the payment and the income required rise with it.
On top of the deposit, before the deed you pay IMT of €22,500.00 at the flat 7.5% rate for non-resident buyers, stamp duty of €2,400.00 on the purchase and €1,440.00 on the loan (0.6%), and €700.00 to register the purchase and the mortgage at Casa Pronta. In all, €87,040.00 of your own money. Bank fees, the valuation and insurance are not included: each bank publishes its own in its price list.
The figures come from our mortgage calculator: change the price, deposit, term or age to see your own case.
What changes for a non-resident
Banco de Portugal limits do not change with residence; each bank's policy and the taxes do. A non-resident buyer pays IMT at a flat 7.5%, with no exemptions, unless they have been tax resident in Portugal before; if they become tax resident within two years, the difference is cancelled on request (article 17 of the IMT Code).
You need a Portuguese tax number (NIF) to apply. The rest of the list varies by bank: UCI, for example, asks for your tax return, a credit report from your country of residence and bank statements for the last six months.
If you earn in a currency other than the euro, a euro loan counts as a foreign-currency loan (article 4 of Decree-Law 74-A/2017). The bank must explain the exchange-rate risk, offer a way to limit it and warn you during the loan when the exchange rate pushes the debt or the payment up by more than 20% (article 20 of the same decree-law).
Stamp duty of 4% is also charged on the interest in every payment. And the bank asks for insurance: at Caixa Geral de Depósitos, life insurance and buildings insurance are compulsory.
Can a non-resident get a mortgage in Portugal?
Yes. The Banco de Portugal limits are the same, 80% for a second home, but each bank decides whom it lends to and how much: some banks have a product for non-residents and lend up to 70%.
Can I buy with no deposit?
Under Banco de Portugal rules a bank lends at most 90% of a main home and 80% of any other home, including properties sold by banks. Full financing exists only in specific public schemes for young people buying their main home, never for a second home. A deposit paid with a personal loan does not get round the rule: that loan's repayments count towards the 45%.
Fixed, mixed or variable rate?
Most banks offer all three, and the variable rate follows Euribor. With a variable or mixed rate, the bank assesses what you can afford at a stressed rate, at least 1.5 percentage points on a loan of more than ten years.
How much of my own money do I need?
In the example above, €87,040.00 for a home at €300,000: the deposit plus the taxes on the purchase and the loan. The limit is taken on the price, not on the price plus taxes.