What a property in Portugal costs to run each year

The purchase price and the taxes on the way in get all the attention. What a house in Portugal costs you every year after that gets very little, and on older buildings it’s mostly maintenance. Here is what to plan for, with the tax side kept short because your accountant should do that part.

IMI, the annual property tax

IMI is charged each year on the property’s tax value (the VPT on the caderneta predial), not on what you paid. For urban property the rate is set by each Câmara between 0.3% and 0.45%. For 2026 Porto charges 0.324%, and Lisbon, Coimbra and Faro are at the 0.3% minimum. Rustic land is 0.8% everywhere. Some municipalities give a family discount of €30, €70 or €140 a year for one, two or three dependent children.

Check the VPT on the caderneta before you buy. An old valuation can be well below the price, and a building that has been altered may be reassessed. If the combined tax value of your property in Portugal is high, ask your accountant about AIMI as well.

Condominium fees and the reserve fund

In an apartment the condominium covers cleaning, lighting, the lift, insurance on the building and the common repairs. By law at least 10% of the yearly budget has to go to a reserve fund for works, and in practice that reserve is often tiny. In one building in Viana do Castelo this year the budget was €1,683 a year and the reserve stood at €456, with a facade repaint coming that we put at €18,000–30,000 for the building.

Big repairs are split by permilagem, your share of the building. In Gaia, a roof job of €18,000–36,000 worked out at about €720–1,440 for a 40‰ flat. In a Porto building with €55,000 of roof works voted, the flat we inspected carried a 30.68‰ share, about €1,687. Read the minutes of the last few assemblies before you buy. More on condominium reserve funds.

Looking at a property with this kind of problem? Our pre-purchase inspection finds it and prices it before you sign. From €490 + IVA.

Insurance

Fire insurance is compulsory for buildings divided into fractions, usually arranged through the condominium for the structure. Most owners add a multi-risk policy for the contents and their own fraction, and a mortgage lender will insist on one. Get quotes before completion. They vary a lot with age, construction and location.

Maintenance: where the money actually goes

A common rule of thumb is to put aside around 1% of a property’s value each year for upkeep. On an older Portuguese house most of it goes on keeping water out.

• Roofs and gutters. A clean, biocide treatment and resetting displaced tiles typically costs €600–1,500 and is worth doing every few years. Blocked gutters and box gutters are behind a large share of the leaks we see.
• Terraces and flat roofs. Membranes don’t last forever, and outlets block. A flood test is €200–380. A full strip and waterproof of a terrace of about 80 m² was €6,000–10,000.
• Facades and render. Repainting and repairing render comes round every so often. On apartment buildings it’s a condominium bill. On a house it’s yours, plus scaffold.
• Ventilation and condensation. Bathroom extract fans fail quietly. New ones run about €350–600 each. Ignore them and you’re repainting mould every spring.
• Windows and sealants. Silicone, seals and sill joints break down, and water gets into the wall below.
• Heating and hot water. Boilers, heat pumps and solar thermal need servicing. Budget for it rather than waiting for the January breakdown.

Rural property

A quinta adds its own line items. The law requires vegetation to be cleared around buildings for fire safety, and clearing a neglected plot cost €3,000–8,000 on our reports. Septic systems need emptying, private water needs testing, and stone walls and outbuildings need looking after. See buying a quinta in Portugal.

Know what’s coming before you buy

The easiest running costs to plan for are the ones you know about. Our inspection report tells you what needs doing now, what is likely in the next few years and roughly what each will cost. On an apartment we read the building, not just the flat, so a shared roof or facade bill doesn’t arrive as a surprise.

Tax figures are for 2026 and set out for orientation only. We’re builders, not tax advisers: confirm IMI, AIMI and anything else with your accountant or lawyer.

Cost figures are from our own inspection reports and quotes in 2025 and 2026, ex IVA, with names and addresses left out. Every building is different, so treat them as a guide to scale, not a quote.