There are foreigners of all ages interested in the Portuguese property market. "We have foreign clients from the age of 21 who work remotely up to the age of 66. At 66 years of age we can do a nine-year loan as long as they have enough income to support it," said Rui Oliveira, CEO of Decisões e Soluções 360º Lagoa.

However, "non-residents normally ask for between 25 and 30 years, which will always depend on the person's age. If the effort rate is high, we recommend that they take a loan for more years, and when they have a chance it is possible to pay off a lump sum. Portugal is the only country that charges a fee of only 0.5 percent when it comes to repaying your loan. It is better to take out a loan with a maximum term, which reduces the monthly installment, which is easier to approve, and then, if the person wants to reduce it, they can," he said.


Furthermore, he told me that "it is not mandatory to become a resident to take out a mortgage in Portugal. That's why it's called non-resident acquisition. People can come here as long as they have the conditions. We know that they have conditions through their financial situation, what mortgages or loans they have in their home country - this is called a credit report and it says how much credit they have and how much they pay per month."


Effort rate


To calculate how much we can ask the bank for, they will consider the effort rate (DSTI). "For non-residents, banks normally do not go beyond 35/40 percent, meaning the client should not pay more than 40 percent of their income," he said.

"Let's imagine that a person earns €5,000 in the US, but already has a loan there and pays €1,000 a month for it. Here in Portugal, this person can have another loan of €1,000 a month, to get within this 35/40 percent. The effort rate is a balance between income and payments", Rui Oliveira added.


Remortgage


In addition, for those who already have a mortgage abroad and want to use it to get some money as a down payment, there are also options that may be good to look at.

"They can ask for a remortgage. For example, if they have a loan for a house worth €500,000 and they have a loan of €200,000, they can go to the bank and ask to take equity in order to use it in Portugal as a down payment," of course they need to have enough income for that because this will be considered on the effort rate in Portugal, he said.


If you wish to contact Decisões e Soluções 360º, please call Rui at +351 919 290 107 (preço chamada móvel nacional) or +351 282 356 496 (preço chamada fixa nacional) or visit their offices at Rua Dr. Afonso Costa nº 27 in Lagoa.

Author

Paula Martins is a fully qualified journalist, who finds writing a means of self-expression. She studied Journalism and Communication at University of Coimbra and recently Law in the Algarve. Press card: 8252

Paula Martins