A Buyer's Guide to Homes in Lisbon

1. Define Budget and Criteria

Before viewing properties, define your maximum budget (including IMT, stamp duty and completion costs) and essential criteria: area, type, size and features.

Obtain mortgage pre-approval to know exactly how much you can borrow.

Common criteria: transport links, schools, shops and parking.

2. Search and Viewings

Work with a real estate agent who knows your target area. In Lisbon, knowing micro-locations makes a difference in price and quality of life.

During viewings, check: damp, noise, sun orientation, condition and condominium status.

Points to watch:

• Energy certificate
• Roof and plumbing condition
• Condominium debts
• Habitation licence

3. Offer and Promissory Contract

After finding the ideal property, submit a purchase offer. If accepted, sign the Promissory Purchase and Sale Contract (CPCV) with a deposit agreed in the contract.

The CPCV defines price, deadlines, suspensive conditions (e.g. mortgage approval) and penalties for breach.

I always recommend review by a lawyer or solicitor before signing.

4. Mortgage

With CPCV signed, submit a mortgage application to the bank. Compare fixed, variable and mixed rate proposals.

Typical documents: tax returns, payslips, BdP liabilities map and bank property valuation.

How long approval takes is the bank's timetable. I do not quote a number of weeks.

5. Completion and Handover

After mortgage approval and documentation verification, completion is scheduled at the notary or land registry. Taxes (IMT, stamp duty) are paid and ownership registered.

Final checklist:

• Water, electricity and gas meter readings
• Condominium proof
• Keys and documentation
• Multi-risk insurance (mandatory with mortgage)

Foreign Buyers

Foreign nationals can buy property in Portugal. They need a Portuguese NIF, bank account and identification documents. The process is identical, with possible power of attorney if not present at completion.

Need Purchase Support?

I support buyers through the entire process — from search to completion. Contact me to find the right property in Lisbon.

AMI licence 16282 | Lisbon.

Costs, in general terms only

Buying a home in Portugal has a price and then a set of costs around it. The names people meet are IMT, stamp duty, the notary and the land registry, plus the bank’s charges if you borrow. The amount of each one depends on the price, on who you are and on the finance. I will not print a tariff or a worked example on this page. A figure copied from last year is how buyers budget the wrong sum.

What I will do is name the headings before you fall in love with a flat, so the ceiling you give me includes them. Your tax adviser or lawyer puts the numbers on those headings for your file. If a portal or a friend quotes a single percentage for “costs in Lisbon”, treat it as a rumour until someone calculates your case.

The agency commission, on many instructions, is paid by the seller. I confirm that in writing before the search starts, because it is not a rule to assume. AMI 16282 is the licence for the mediation. It does not make me your tax adviser.

The property file you should read

On a viewing in Lisbon or Greater Lisbon I look at condition, light, noise and the condominium, with the technical habits of a civil engineer. You should also ask for the land-registry certificate, the energy certificate, the floor plan and the habitation licence where one applies. A missing licence or a condominium debt is a reason to slow down, not a detail for the week of the deed.

I shortlist homes that match the brief, including ones that are not on a public portal when I am instructed to present them. I do not invent availability. If nothing honest fits, I say so. Off-market is not a magic cupboard. It is simply a home whose owner has not published it, and it still has to survive the same documents.

Foreign buyers follow the same steps. You will be asked for identification and a Portuguese tax number. A power of attorney is sometimes used if you cannot attend the deed. I explain the sequence. Your lawyer confirms the signature.

Offer, promissory contract, deed

An offer should be written: price, timing and any condition, such as finance. I negotiate it. I will not tell you that a property “always” moves by a certain amount. After acceptance, the promissory contract records the deposit, the deadline and what happens if one side fails. The size of the deposit is negotiated. It is not a percentage I publish here. Have the draft read before you sign.

If you borrow, the bank’s valuation and its timetable are the bank’s. I can refer a partner. I do not quote how many weeks approval takes, because I do not control it. The deed transfers ownership when the funds and the taxes due on the purchase are ready. I help with keys, meters and the papers the seller should hand over.

If you are selling a home in order to buy, book the free valuation of that home first. It is a commercial opinion with no obligation, and it stops the purchase budget resting on a guess. I work from Rua Rodrigo da Fonseca 14, Monday to Friday 09:00–18:00 and Saturday 09:00–13:00. One practical note belongs at the end. I am Catarina Henriques, AMI 16282, an independent consultant affiliated with Century 21 RealtyArt. The office is at Rua Rodrigo da Fonseca 14, 1250-192 Lisboa. Hours are Monday to Friday, 09:00 to 18:00, and Saturday, 09:00 to 13:00. Phone +351 918 036 146. I work Lisbon and Greater Lisbon: apartments, houses, land, commercial property and the premium segment. Since 2017 the work has been buy, sell and let, with a civil-engineering background and no appetite for a figure I cannot source. If this describes your situation, the next step is the free valuation of one address, with no obligation to instruct me afterwards. That visit is commercial. It is not a bank valuation and it is not tax advice. Your lawyer reads what you sign. I keep the mediation moving.