The price on the listing is not the price you'll pay. Buy a €200,000 apartment abroad and the real bill usually lands somewhere between €210,000 and €224,000 once taxes, notary fees, agency commission and currency costs are stacked on top. That extra 5–12% catches out more foreign buyers than any scam or bad contract ever will, for the simple reason that nobody put it in the budget.
And the purchase is only round one. Owning a home in another country generates bills every year, some of them in a tax system you've never dealt with, plus a quieter set of costs, like exchange-rate margins and flights, that never appear on any invoice at all.
This guide breaks the full cost of buying property abroad down by type: what you pay on the day, what you pay every year after, and what you pay when you eventually sell. The examples come from real markets among the 13 countries HomeNSearch covers, so the figures are ones you can actually check.
Purchase taxes: the biggest single line
Every country charges something for the act of transferring ownership. The name changes: transfer tax, stamp duty, registration tax, title deed fee. The size changes too, and by far more than most buyers expect.
Dubai keeps it simple. The Dubai Land Department charges a flat 4% transfer fee on the purchase price, and that's close to the whole tax story, because the emirate levies no annual property tax at all. Turkey looks similar at the point of purchase: a 4% title deed tax, payable when the tapu, the ownership deed, changes hands. Officially that cost is shared between buyer and seller. In practice it's a negotiation point, so pin down who pays it before you sign anything.
Europe is heavier. In France, total acquisition costs on a resale property typically run around 7–8% of the price once transfer duties and the notaire's fees are combined. That one number reshapes the maths of short-term ownership: sell within a few years and the buying costs alone can swallow any price growth.
Two habits will save you money here. Ask what the tax is calculated on, because in some countries it's the declared price and in others an official assessed value, and the two can differ. Then ask what's negotiable. The rates aren't. Who pays which fee often is.
Resale or new build? The tax is different
Spain splits the world in two. A resale home carries ITP, a transfer tax set by each region. A new build from a developer carries 10% VAT instead, plus stamp duty. Neither route is free, and the totals differ enough to influence which type of property you shortlist in the first place.
Italy runs the sharpest split of all, and it's not about the building's age but about you. Buy as your main residence under the prima casa regime and registration tax is 2%. Buy the same house as a second home and it jumps to 9%. Same property, same notary, several times the tax. If you qualify for prima casa treatment, the paperwork to claim it is worth every hour it takes.
Cyprus works the other way round. New builds carry VAT, with a reduced rate available on your primary residence if you meet the conditions, while resales are VAT-free but attract transfer fees instead. Either way the totals are moderate by European standards, which is one reason the island keeps pulling in foreign buyers year after year. You can see what's on the market right now on our Cyprus page.
Notary, legal and registration fees
Across most of continental Europe the notary isn't optional. They're a state-appointed official who verifies the title, drafts the deed and registers the transfer, and their fee is usually a sliding scale fixed by law. Predictable, at least. That's more than can be said for most items on this list.
A lawyer is a separate cost, and in most countries a separate necessity. Here's the distinction that matters: the notary is neutral. Their job is to make the transaction legal, not to make it good for you. Your own lawyer reads the deal from your side of the table, hunting for penalty clauses, debts attached to the property, planning violations and missing permits. In Cyprus and Turkey, where the notary plays a smaller role in property deals or none at all, independent legal advice carries almost all of the protective weight. Skipping it to save a fee is the single most expensive economy a foreign buyer can make.
Registration itself, meaning the entry of your name in the land registry, is usually the cheapest item in the stack. A fixed sum or a fraction of a percent. Budget for it anyway. Small costs multiply.
Agency commission: who pays depends on where you buy
In some markets the seller pays the agent. In others the buyer does. In a few, the fee is quietly split, and the split itself is a local custom rather than a law. Ask early, and get the answer in writing, because nothing sours a completion day like discovering a commission you assumed the other side was covering.
New-build purchases often look commission-free, since the developer pays the sales agent. The fee still exists. It's built into the list price, the same way a supermarket builds shelf costs into a loaf of bread. That's no reason to avoid new builds, just a reason to negotiate on the price itself rather than assume you've dodged a cost.
The exchange rate: the cost with no invoice
If your money starts in one currency and the property is priced in another, conversion is a real cost. Often a large one. It hides in two places.
First, the spread. Banks and transfer services buy currency at one rate and sell it to you at another, and the gap is their margin. On the sums involved in a property purchase that margin can quietly exceed your legal fees, and you'll never see it itemised. Compare providers on the amount that actually arrives, not on their advertised fees, which are frequently zero precisely because the profit sits inside the rate.
Second, the movement. Months usually pass between agreeing a price and completing the purchase. If the rate shifts against you in that window, the property becomes more expensive without its price changing at all. A forward contract, which locks today's rate for a payment months away, takes that risk off the table for a modest cost. Talk to a currency specialist before you sign, not after.
Get a full transfer quote in writing before you make an offer. The currency question is easiest to solve while you still control the timetable.
What you'll pay every year you own it
Purchase costs hurt once. Ownership costs repeat.
Annual property tax varies between countries more than almost any other item on the bill. Dubai charges none, which over a decade of ownership adds up to a serious argument in its favour. Cyprus scrapped its national immovable property tax years ago and now carries one of the lightest annual burdens in the EU, with only modest local charges remaining. France and Spain both levy yearly local taxes based on the property's official value and its municipality. The fastest route to a real number for a specific home is blunt and effective: ask to see the current owner's latest tax bill.
Then come the recurring costs that have nothing to do with the state:
- community or service charges in apartment buildings and resorts, which climb with every pool, lift and security desk the complex maintains
- buildings and contents insurance, often compulsory if you borrowed to buy
- utilities and standing charges that tick over even when the place sits empty
- property management, typically a share of rental income if you let the place out, or a flat fee if you simply need someone local holding the keys
None of these is dramatic on its own. Together they decide whether a rental property actually clears a profit or just looks like it does in the brochure. Run the whole list against realistic rent before you buy, not after.
Travel: the line every spreadsheet forgets
You'll fly out to view properties, probably more than once. You'll fly out to complete, possibly to open a bank account in person, and later to furnish the place and meet the management company. Add hotels, car hire and a few lost working days, and a single purchase can generate four or five trips before you ever spend a night in your own bed there.
Next to transfer tax it's not a huge sum. It's also not zero, and it lands on your card months before completion, exactly when your cash is most stretched. Give it its own line in the budget and it stops being a surprise.
Taxes back home
Buying abroad doesn't move your tax residence. Your home country may still take an interest in the property, and usually in three ways.
Many countries require residents to declare foreign assets above a certain threshold, with genuine penalties for staying silent. Rental income from the property is commonly taxable at home as well as locally, with a double taxation treaty deciding who collects first and what you can offset. And when you sell, capital gains can be assessed in both places under the same treaty rules.
None of this is an argument against buying. It's an argument for spending an hour with a tax adviser who knows both jurisdictions before the money moves. Cross-border tax mistakes are cheap to prevent and painful to unwind.
The costs of getting out
Selling has its own bill, and the day you buy is the right day to understand it. Capital gains tax applies in most countries, though many reduce or waive it after a qualifying holding period. You'll probably pay an agent to sell. And the proceeds have to travel back through the exchange rate, with the same spread and the same timing risk as on the way in.
Buyers with a two-or-three-year horizon get caught here most often. With 5–12% spent going in and selling costs waiting at the exit, a short hold needs strong price growth just to break even. If you don't plan to keep the property long, the cost structure of the country you pick matters more than the view from the balcony.
Putting a number on it
Across the thirteen countries HomeNSearch works in, the pattern is consistent: expect the extras to add roughly 5–12% on top of the purchase price, and treat anything under five as a pleasant surprise rather than a plan. Dubai sits near the bottom of the range thanks to its flat 4% DLD fee and zero annual tax. France sits near the top before you've even hired a lawyer. On a €300,000 purchase, that spread is the difference between €15,000 and €36,000. Real money, and knowable in advance.
So build the budget cost by cost for your specific case: country, resale or new build, main home or second. If you're curious how a genuinely low-tax market feels in practice, browse the current UAE listings. And before you commit anywhere, read our rundown of the five mistakes foreign buyers keep making. Underbudgeting the extras earned its place on that list.
FAQ
How much should I add on top of the asking price?
Plan for 5–12% of the purchase price to cover taxes, notary and legal fees, agency commission and currency costs. Where you land in that range depends on the country and on the property type, resale or new build. High-cost resale markets like France, at roughly 7–8% in acquisition costs alone, sit near the top; Dubai, with its flat 4% transfer fee and no annual property tax, sits near the bottom.
Which costs do buyers most often forget?
Currency conversion and annual running costs. The exchange-rate margin never appears as a line item, so it doesn't feel like a fee, while community charges, insurance and local taxes only surface after completion, once the budget spreadsheet has been closed. Both are predictable if you ask for real figures up front.
Do I still pay tax in my home country?
Often, yes. Many countries tax residents on worldwide rental income and capital gains, and require foreign property to be declared above a threshold. Double taxation treaties usually stop you paying twice in full, but they don't make the obligation disappear. Have an adviser check both sides before the purchase, not at your first tax deadline afterwards.
Is a new build cheaper to buy than a resale?
Not automatically. New builds swap transfer tax for VAT, 10% in Spain for instance, and the developer's sales costs are baked into the list price. Resales carry transfer taxes but leave more room to negotiate. In Italy the deciding factor isn't the building at all but how you'll use it: a main residence pays 2% registration tax against 9% for a second home.
