Government signals it could exempt second-home sales up to €300,000 from IRS capital gains
After meeting Prime Minister Luís Montenegro at São Bento on 5 November, PS secretary-general José Luís Carneiro said the Government showed openness to the PS proposal to exempt from IRS mais-valias the sale of second homes worth up to €300,000, where the buyer takes the property as their own permanent residence and it sits in a zona de pressão urbanística. The PS package also carries a three-year exceptional regime, reduced taxation for homes between €300,000 and €500,000, and imposto do selo exemption on the purchase and the related housing loan. Carneiro also reported a "relative" agreement to raise IMT for buyers who neither live in Portugal nor buy for housing. No text has been agreed and ECO reports no on-record government statement; the measures are PS proposals the Government says it is open to.
Why it matters: If it lands, selling a non-primary home below €300,000 to an owner-occupier in a pressure zone would become tax-free at the IRS level — and a higher IMT band for non-resident, non-housing buyers would cut the other way for foreign purchasers.