Non-resident property buying rules in Europe: 12 countries

A Serbian engineer eyeing a flat in Prague, a Briton retiring to the Algarve, a Munich couple choosing between Amsterdam and Warsaw: every cross-border buyer opens with the same worry. Can a foreigner actually own a home here, and does a non-EU passport add a permit or a tax bill a local never sees? The answer turns on the country and your nationality, and it is more open than most people expect.

Last reviewed: 2026-08-10. Seeki.eu is not a legal or tax adviser; this is orientation, not advice. Foreign-ownership rules, permits and surcharges change and turn on your nationality, residency and the property type. Confirm your specific case with a local notary, lawyer or tax adviser before you commit. Sources at the foot of this article.

The 12-country matrix: who can buy, and what it takes

The table sets each country's rule for an EU or EEA citizen against the rule for a non-EU (third-country) buyer, plus any permit and any foreigner-specific cost or ID. It runs from the most open markets to the four that gate foreign buyers.

Country	EU / EEA buyer	Non-EU buyer	Permit or approval	Foreigner-specific cost or ID
Czechia	Same rights as nationals	Buys directly	None	None (transfer tax abolished 2020)
Slovakia	Same rights	Buys directly	None (farmland reciprocity test)	None
Germany	Same rights	Buys directly	None	None
France	Same rights	Buys directly	None	None
Belgium	Same rights	Buys directly	None	12% to 12.5% duty on any non-own-home
Netherlands	Same rights	Buys directly	None (local self-occupancy rules)	8% investor rate vs 2% own-home
Spain	Same rights	Buys directly	Military clearance only in defence zones	NIE required
Portugal	Same rights	Buys directly	None	NIF plus fiscal rep, 7.5% IMT since May 2026
Poland	Same rights	Apartment yes, house or land needs a permit	MSWiA permit (non-EEA)	Permit fee
Hungary	Same rights	Buys with a permit	Government-office permit (non-EEA)	Permit fee
Austria	Broadly same rights	Usually needs approval	Provincial land-transfer approval (non-EU)	Approval process
Italy	Same rights	Reciprocity test or residence permit	Reciprocity check	Codice fiscale

For most of Europe, whether a foreigner can own a home is a settled yes, and the real variables are the tax bill and the paperwork, not permission. Friction concentrates in the four gated markets and, separately, in land: agricultural and forest land is restricted or reciprocity-tested for non-EU buyers in most countries, Slovakia and Hungary included. Three markets make a non-resident pay more, Portugal's 7.5% IMT, the Dutch 8% investor rate against 2% for an owner-occupier, and Belgium's 12% to 12.5% duty, which we break down in the true cost of buying a home in Europe.

Can foreigners buy property in Czechia?

Yes, with no permit. The Serbian engineer eyeing that Prague flat buys directly in her own name. The post-accession transition period that limited foreign buyers of second homes lapsed on 1 May 2009, and the remaining nationality restriction in section 17 of the Foreign Exchange Act was repealed outright, without replacement, by Act 206/2011 Sb. with effect from 19 July 2011. The 4% real-estate acquisition tax went next: Act 386/2020 Sb. abolished it retroactively for transfers registered in the cadastre from 1 December 2019, and it has not been reintroduced. For the direct-versus-company decision and the Land Registry mechanics, see non-residents buying property in Czechia.

Can foreigners buy property in Slovakia?

Yes, and it is one of the simplest markets in Europe. Any nationality holds a Slovak home directly, with no permit and no residence requirement, under section 19a of the Foreign Exchange Act 202/1995. There is no acquisition transfer tax either, since Slovakia abolished it on 1 January 2005.

The only carve-out is agricultural land, and it is narrower than most guides suggest. Section 7 of Act 140/2014 is a reciprocity test rather than a blanket ban: a buyer is barred only where their own country's law denies Slovaks the right to buy farmland there, EU, EEA and Swiss nationals are exempt outright, and inheritance is exempt in every case. The Constitutional Court struck down the act's public-offering and local-farmer priority machinery in ruling PL. ÚS 20/2014, published on 11 February 2019, so the procedure is lighter now than pre-2019 write-ups describe.

Can foreigners buy property in Germany?

Yes, without restriction of any kind. German law imposes no nationality or residency condition on real-estate ownership, so any nationality buys on identical terms. Every buyer pays the same transfer tax (Grunderwerbsteuer), and the rate is set by each federal state: 3.5% in Bavaria at the low end, and 6.5% at the top in four states, Brandenburg, North Rhine-Westphalia, Saarland and Schleswig-Holstein, with the rest sitting between 5% and 6%, according to Germany Trade and Invest as of August 2026.

Can foreigners buy property in France?

Yes, France is one of the most open markets on the list, with no nationality test, no pre-approval and no permit; a non-resident buys at any price point, and no visa or residence permit is required to own, according to Notaires de France. Every transaction runs through a notaire, a public officer bound to impartiality who reconstructs the chain of title, checks mortgages and easements, authenticates the deed and collects the transfer duties for the state.

Can foreigners buy property in Belgium?

Yes: Belgian law sets no nationality condition on buying, and no foreigner permit exists. The catch is cost, not access. Registration duty on a home that is not your main residence runs 12% in Flanders and 12.5% in Brussels and Wallonia, according to the Belgian notaries' federation as of August 2026. The reduced rates all require you to actually live in the property, so a non-resident buyer reaches none of them: Flanders charges 2% and Wallonia 3% on a sole main residence, and Brussels applies a €200,000 allowance against the taxable base on homes up to €600,000. Flanders tightened its 2% rate from 1 January 2026, requiring at least one uninterrupted year of registered residence at the address. That lands a non-resident at the most expensive market here to transact.

Can foreigners buy property in the Netherlands?

Yes, Dutch law sets no nationality condition, so any nationality buys directly. The restriction that catches investors is local, not national: municipalities may run an owner-occupancy rule (opkoopbescherming) barring buy-to-let on cheaper and mid-priced homes for four years from registration of the transfer deed. Amsterdam, Utrecht and The Hague apply it across the whole municipality, while Rotterdam, Eindhoven and Arnhem designate specific neighbourhoods, and it binds every owner regardless of nationality. Each municipality sets its own value ceiling: Utrecht's rose to €686,000 on 1 July 2026. The national evaluation of the rule went to parliament in July 2026 and the government's response is still pending as of August 2026, so check the local rule before you commit. A home you will not live in carries 8% transfer tax, down from 10.4%, against 2% for an owner-occupier, according to the Belastingdienst, with effect from 1 January 2026. The 10.4% rate still applies to commercial premises, land and a garage bought separately from the home.

Can foreigners buy property in Spain?

Yes, and the main hurdle is an ID, not a permit. Every foreign buyer needs an NIE, Spain's foreigner identification number, because the notary and the Land Registry require it to complete the purchase, under the Reglamento de Extranjería (Royal Decree 557/2011). Non-EU buyers also need military authorisation in zones designated of national defence interest under Law 8/1975 and Royal Decree 689/1978. That regime covers rural and urban property alike inside a designated zone, and the islands, the Balearics and Canaries included, are designated wholesale. In practice it surfaces most often on rustic land and in border provinces. EU nationals are exempt from it.

Spain closed its investor-visa route on 3 April 2025, when Organic Law 1/2025 repealed the golden-visa scheme in full, the real-estate, business-project and public-debt pathways alike. Permits granted before that date remain valid and renewable. A separate 100% tax on purchases by non-EU non-residents was announced in January 2025 and submitted to Congress on 22 May 2025, and it had stalled there without a vote as of the most recent reporting we could confirm, in March 2026 (US News). Treat it as pending rather than dead, and check its status before you budget. Our guide to getting an NIE number for a Spanish purchase covers the paperwork.

Can foreigners buy property in Portugal?

Yes, with no ownership permit, though two things now cost non-residents more. The Briton retiring to the Algarve must obtain a NIF (Portugal's tax number) and appoint a fiscal representative. And a buyer who is not a Portuguese tax resident pays a flat 7.5% IMT transfer tax on a property used exclusively for housing, with no exemption or reduction, under Decreto-Lei 97/2026 of 20 May.

This rate is already in force. It has applied since 25 May 2026, not from 1 September 2026 as several property sites still report: the decree's own timetable (Article 18) defers only the new rental regimes to September, while the IMT change took effect with the decree itself. If you are completing a purchase this summer as a non-resident, budget 7.5%.

The tax turns on tax residency, not nationality, so an EU citizen who is not resident in Portugal pays it too. Three routes cancel it, per the amended Article 17 of the IMT Code: you were already a Portuguese tax resident, you become one within two years of the purchase, or you let the property as housing at a capped rent within six months and keep it let for at least 36 months over the first five years. In the latter two cases the tax authority refunds the difference against the normal progressive rates on request, which you must file within six months. The real-estate route into the golden visa was already removed in 2023.

Can foreigners buy property in Poland?

It depends on what you buy. A self-contained apartment in a multi-unit building is exempt, and a non-EEA buyer can purchase it without a permit if it sits outside the border zone. A house, plot or land requires a permit from the MSWiA, Poland's interior ministry, under the 1920 Act on Acquisition of Real Estate by Foreigners. EU and EEA citizens are exempt for homes entirely. The Buying Property in Poland as a Foreigner (2026 Guide) sets out the permit process.

Can foreigners buy property in Hungary?

Yes, but non-EEA buyers need a permit. A third-country national must obtain an acquisition permit from the local government office before buying, a process that typically takes 30 to 90 days and requires proof of identity, purpose and funds. EU and EEA citizens are treated as locals and need no permit. Agricultural and forest land is heavily restricted for all foreigners.

Can foreigners buy property in Austria?

For non-EU buyers, usually not without approval. Austria is the strictest market here, and a skier hoping for a chalet in Tyrol runs into two separate gates that are easy to confuse.

The first is the foreigner permit. There is no federal statute, so each of the nine provinces runs its own land-transfer act, and a third-country buyer generally needs authorisation from the provincial land-transfer authority (the Grundverkehrsbehörde). On this gate the tightest provinces are Tyrol, Vorarlberg, Carinthia and Vienna. Carinthia effectively rules out a fresh non-resident holiday purchase, requiring five years of uninterrupted main residence in Austria, and Vienna's foreigner act catches every property type. Salzburg, often grouped with the strictest, runs the other way on this point: its 2023 land-transfer act expressly lists a second home in a designated second-home zone as a valid ground for granting a third-country permit.

The second gate is the holiday-home rule, and it binds Austrians and foreigners alike. Tyrol does not bar foreign holiday homes as such. It bars new ones for everyone, under the 2022 planning act, allowing only those registered before 1999 or expressly zoned, and capping them at 8% of a municipality's housing stock. From 1 January 2026, 181 Tyrolean municipalities require every buyer to declare that they are not creating a new holiday home, with a court-ordered auction as the sanction for breach.

EU and EEA citizens are broadly equated with Austrians on the foreigner gate, though most provinces expect you to evidence the Treaty freedom you are relying on, and equal treatment does not exempt anyone from the holiday-home rules. Swiss buyers are not automatically equated: full national treatment follows only once you take up main residence in Austria. Read the Buying Property in Austria as a Foreigner (2026 Guide) before committing to a province, and if you are buying from Hungary, buying property in Austria as a Hungarian citizen walks the whole route.

Can foreigners buy property in Italy?

For EU citizens, freely. For non-EU citizens, only if the reciprocity condition (condizione di reciprocità) is met: Italy allows the purchase when an Italian could buy in the foreigner's country, a test the notary checks against the Foreign Ministry's MAECI tables. A valid Italian residence permit removes the test entirely. Every buyer needs a codice fiscale, Italy's tax code. See the Buying Property in Italy as a Foreigner (2026 Guide) for the reciprocity detail; German and Austrian buyers get the full route, costs included, in buying a home in Italy from Germany or Austria.

When a local company or waiting for residency is the better path

Two situations flip the default advice to buy directly as an individual. The first is a portfolio or rental business: a local company (a Czech s.r.o., a Spanish S.L.) can separate liability, tidy cross-border succession and simplify holding several properties. The second is a gated market: because most restrictions fall on non-EU status, acquiring residence first can lift them. An Italian residence permit skips the reciprocity check, and EU or EEA status clears the Polish, Hungarian and Austrian permits altogether.

This is not for everyone. For a single home you will live in yourself, in one of the eight open markets, a company is overkill, adding incorporation cost, annual accounts and corporate tax for no benefit. Waiting for residency only makes sense if you were moving anyway. If you are weighing more than one country, the Seeki.eu relocation comparator puts two markets side by side, with prices in a single currency, before you commit to either.

Frequently asked questions

Can non-EU citizens buy property in Europe?

Yes, in most of Europe. Of the 12 markets here, 8 place no ownership restriction on a non-EU buyer and need no permit: Czechia, Slovakia, Germany, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain and Portugal. Four gate at least some purchases: Poland and Hungary require a permit, Austria a provincial approval, and Italy a reciprocity test. You will usually still need a local tax number.

Which European countries require a permit to buy property?

Four. Poland requires an MSWiA permit for non-EEA buyers of a house or land, though a self-contained apartment outside the border zone is exempt. Hungary requires a government-office permit for all non-EEA buyers. Austria requires provincial land-transfer approval for non-EU buyers, tightest in Tyrol, Vorarlberg, Carinthia and Vienna. Italy runs a reciprocity check rather than a permit. Agricultural land is separately restricted in most countries.

Do foreigners pay extra tax when buying property in Europe?

Sometimes. Portugal has charged non-tax-residents a flat 7.5% IMT on homes since 25 May 2026 (Decreto-Lei 97/2026), a surcharge that turns on tax residency rather than nationality, so even an EU non-resident is caught. The Netherlands charges 8% on an investment home versus 2% for an owner-occupier. Belgium's 12% to 12.5% duty applies to any non-own-home. Elsewhere the tax is the same for everyone.

Can foreigners get a local mortgage in Europe?

Usually yes, but on tighter terms than a resident. Banks across the EU lend to non-residents, and often to non-EU buyers, but the loan-to-value is lower: where a local might borrow 80% to 90% of the price, a non-resident is commonly capped nearer 60% to 70%, so plan a larger cash deposit. We compare who lends and on what terms in the guide to non-resident mortgages across the EU.

Do I need to live in a country to buy property there?

No. None of these markets requires residency to own a home, and you can buy as a non-resident who has never lived there. What can be required is a permit (Poland, Hungary, Austria for non-EU buyers), a tax number (Spain's NIE, Portugal's NIF, Italy's codice fiscale) and proof of your source of funds under EU anti-money-laundering rules. Residency changes your tax position, not your right to buy.

How do I compare two of these countries before I choose one?

Put them side by side first. The Seeki.eu relocation comparator sets any two of these markets against each other on typical prices and homes, its search normalises every budget to euros so a €250,000 shortlist means the same in Warsaw and Lisbon, and most of these countries carry a foreign-buyer guide covering the permits and taxes above. That lets you rule a market in or out before you spend on a lawyer or a viewing trip.

Before you make an offer abroad

The most useful move a cross-border buyer can make is to separate the three questions that get muddled: can I buy here, what will taxes and permits add, and can I afford it once the budget is in one currency. For 8 of these 12 markets the first answer is a clean yes; for the other four it is yes with a permit or a test that hangs on non-EU status. From there it is a shortlisting problem, which is where Seeki.eu earns its place: line up Spanish per-square-metre prices against the Polish equivalent, keep every price in euros as you compare, and open the country's foreign-buyer guide, where we have one, before you narrow to one.

Sources

This article was re-verified on 10 August 2026 against primary legislation and official bodies wherever those were reachable.

Portugal: Decreto-Lei n.º 97/2026 of 20 May, as published in Diário da República, 1.ª série, no. 97, in particular Article 6 (which amends Article 17 of the IMT Code) and Article 18, which sets out when each measure takes effect.

Czechia: Act 206/2011 Sb., repealing section 17 of the Foreign Exchange Act 219/1995 Sb., and Act 386/2020 Sb., abolishing the real-estate acquisition tax.

Slovakia: section 19a of the Foreign Exchange Act 202/1995 Z. z., section 7 of Act 140/2014 Z. z., and Constitutional Court ruling PL. ÚS 20/2014, promulgated as Nález 33/2019 Z. z.

Spain: Law 8/1975 and Royal Decree 689/1978 on zones of national defence interest, the Reglamento de Extranjería (Royal Decree 557/2011), and Organic Law 1/2025 repealing the investor-visa regime.

Germany: Germany Trade and Invest, on transfer-tax rates by federal state.

France: Notaires de France, on purchases by non-residents and the role of the notaire.

Belgium: the Belgian notaries' federation, on regional registration duties, the Brussels allowance and the Flemish rate conditions applying from 1 January 2026.

Netherlands: the Belastingdienst on transfer-tax rates, and Volkshuisvesting Nederland with the City of Utrecht on the owner-occupancy rule and its pending national evaluation.

Austria: the consolidated provincial statutes on the federal legal information system (RIS), as in force on 10 August 2026, in particular the Tiroler Grundverkehrsgesetz 1996 and Tiroler Raumordnungsgesetz 2022, the Salzburger Grundverkehrsgesetz 2023, the Vorarlberg Grundverkehrsgesetz, the Kärntner Grundverkehrsgesetz 2002, the Wiener Ausländergrunderwerbsgesetz, and the Tiroler Vorbehaltsgemeindenverordnung 2026. Swiss treatment follows the EU and Switzerland agreement on free movement of persons.

Poland, Hungary and Italy: the permit and reciprocity rules in those three sections were compiled in July 2026 from the Polish Ministry of the Interior and Administration, the Hungarian government-office permit regime and Italy's MAECI reciprocity tables. They were not re-sourced in the August 2026 review, so treat them as current to July 2026 and confirm them with a local lawyer before you rely on them.

Rates and thresholds change and vary by region, property type and your own tax residency. This is orientation, not advice. Confirm your situation with a local notary, lawyer or tax adviser before you commit.