Buying Property in Portugal in 2026: Yes You Can, but Not for a Golden Visa

Foreigners can buy property in Portugal freely, with full freehold ownership and no nationality restriction. Portugal places no cap on foreign ownership of homes or land, and a non resident can hold title exactly as a Portuguese citizen does. That part has not changed and is not in dispute.

What changed, and what confuses most buyers in 2026, is the link between property and residency. Buying a home in Portugal no longer earns you a Golden Visa. If your plan was to spend half a million euros on a Lisbon apartment and collect residency in return, that route closed in October 2023. The property is still a sound asset. It is simply no longer a path to a residence permit.

What the Mais Habitação law did

The change came through Law No. 56/2023, the "Mais Habitação" (More Housing) law, published on 6 October 2023 and in force from 7 October 2023. It rewrote the investment categories that qualify for Portugal's residence permit for investment activity, the ARI, commonly called the Golden Visa.

Three pathways were eliminated for new applicants. Buying residential real estate at any threshold, including the old €500,000 urban and €350,000 rehabilitation or low density options, no longer qualifies. The €1.5 million capital transfer route was abolished. And investment funds with any direct or indirect exposure to real estate were disqualified, so the fund route now requires genuinely non property focused funds. Real estate had been the dominant pathway, used by roughly three quarters of all Golden Visa applicants before the reform, which is why its removal reshaped the whole program.

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The stated reason was housing affordability. Portuguese house prices had climbed far faster than incomes over the previous decade, and the government framed the Golden Visa property route as a contributor to speculation in cities like Lisbon and Porto. Whether the visa was actually a major driver is debated, but the policy outcome is settled.

What still earns a Golden Visa

The program itself survives in 2026. The routes that remain are non real estate. The most used is a subscription of at least €500,000 into a qualifying Portuguese investment fund that does not invest in real estate. Other routes include capital for scientific research, support for the arts and cultural heritage, and job creation through company investment. If residency is the goal, these are now the only doors, and the fund route is the one most former property buyers move to.

So the honest framing for 2026 is this. Buy Portuguese property because you want a home, a rental yield, or an asset in the eurozone. Do not buy it expecting a residence permit, because it will not produce one.

Tax and the end of cheap NHR

The second 2023 era change worth knowing concerns tax. Portugal's Non Habitual Resident regime, which gave new residents a flat 20 percent rate on certain Portuguese income and generous treatment of foreign income for ten years, was closed to most new entrants from 2024. A narrower successor aimed at scientific research and innovation replaced it. Buyers who based their numbers on the old NHR benefits should rerun them, because the tax picture for a new arrival in 2026 is materially different.

Transaction taxes still apply on any purchase. The IMT property transfer tax, stamp duty (Imposto do Selo), and ongoing municipal property tax (IMI) are payable by foreign and domestic buyers alike. Budget for IMT in particular, as it scales with price and can be significant on higher value homes.

Where buyers go wrong in 2026

The biggest error is acting on outdated advice. Agents and even some immigration intermediaries still market Portuguese property as a Golden Visa product. It is not, and a buyer who pays a premium expecting residency has overpaid for nothing. Confirm any residency claim against the current ARI rules, not a 2022 brochure.

The second error is skipping developer due diligence on off plan or rehabilitation projects, which are common in Lisbon and Porto's older housing stock. A renovation project that stalls or a developer that fails to deliver clean title leaves you with a legal and financial mess regardless of how the home is taxed. Checking a developer's completion record before you commit is basic protection, and Bektu (https://bektu.com) lets you verify a developer's delivery history before you sign.

Verify before you buy

Engage an independent Portuguese lawyer, not the seller's, to run the property's registration at the Conservatória do Registo Predial and confirm there are no liens, debts or licensing problems. Get your Portuguese tax number (NIF) early. Confirm the IMT, stamp duty and IMI you will owe before you sign, so the all in cost is real. And if residency matters to you, talk to a qualified adviser about the fund route under the current ARI rules rather than assuming the property delivers it.

Portugal remains open to foreign buyers and the ownership rights are clean and full. The only thing that disappeared is the residency bonus, and pretending otherwise is how people overpay in 2026.

Sources

- Law No. 56/2023, de 6 de outubro "Mais Habitação" (Diário da República text)

- PwC Portugal: Mais Habitação Programme overview

- Defesa Legal: The End of Real Estate Golden Visas, Law 56/2023

- Get Golden Visa: Portugal Golden Visa current investment routes

- Global Citizen Solutions: Portugal Golden Visa changes and updates

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