How to buy property abroad

Can you buy a home in another country as an expat or a foreign buyer? In most of the 40 countries we track, yes, with no special permission needed. What changes when you cross a border is the legal system, the taxes, and the financing, and all three vary more between countries than most buyers expect: buyer-side closing costs alone run from about 0.25 percent of the price in Qatar to around 8 percent in Spain. Cross-border buying is also entirely ordinary. In Spain alone, foreign buyers completed 13.8 percent of all 2025 home purchases, nearly 97,300 sales, a record year according to the Spanish land registrars, and every notary system on earth processes deals like yours daily.

This guide covers the working parts: who actually protects the transfer, what the buyer side costs, where foreigners face real limits, how to move the money, and how to do all of it from another country. At the end you will find a directory of the 40 countries we track, each linking to a full guide to that market's notary, registry, taxes, and process.

In most of continental Europe, Latin America, and much of Asia, a property transfer runs through a civil-law notary: a state-appointed public officer who checks the legality of the sale, authenticates the deed, and acts impartially for both sides. The International Union of Notaries counts notariats in more than 90 countries. France shows how far the protection goes: the notaire holds the purchase money in a client account at the Caisse des Dépôts, a state financial institution, then collects the taxes and registers the title.

Common-law countries work differently. In England and Wales, each side hires its own representative, a solicitor or licensed conveyancer, and ownership changes at completion with registration at HM Land Registry. In the United States, an escrow or title company plus title insurance fills the same assurance role.

Notice what is missing from both lists: the agent. The protection is attached to the transfer, not to the introduction. The notary or conveyancer verifies title, checks for debts and charges, collects the taxes, and registers ownership whether you found the home through an agency or knocked on the owner's door. That is why buying a home without an agent abroad carries the same legal protections as buying through one, and why our guide to buying a for-sale-by-owner home follows the same checkpoints. The officer at the center of the deal does not change.

Buyer-side closing costs are where countries differ most, and the spread is bigger than most people expect. Across the 33 markets with reviewed figures in our dataset, the buyer's side of the transaction, transfer tax, notary fees, and registration combined, runs from about 0.25 percent of the price in Qatar up to around 8 percent in Spain. Most countries land somewhere between, and the per-country directory at the end of this page shows the reviewed figure for every market that has one. Deciding between two specific markets? Our country head-to-heads put the numbers side by side.

Even inside one currency the spread is real money. Comparing the euro area's extremes, a €250,000 home costs a buyer about €2,000 to close in Portugal against about €20,000 in Spain, before anyone says the word commission. You can estimate your cash to close for your own price and market.

Each country sets its own rule on who pays the agent. In many markets the seller pays the whole commission. In Germany the cost is commonly split between buyer and seller. Never assume the arrangement travels with you: the commission rates we track run from 0.4 percent in South Korea to 8 percent in Brazil, and each country guide spells out who owes what.

When you buy directly from an owner, there is no listing commission priced into the deal at all. In seller-pays countries that gives the owner room to meet you on price. In split or buyer-pays markets it removes a line from your own bill. Either way, the notary and registry steps stay exactly the same.

Most of the 40 countries in our directory let foreigners buy residential property with no special permission. A handful run permit systems or temporary bans, and the practical advice is simple: check this first. As of mid-2026, these are the big ones.

• Canada bans most foreign purchases of homes in metropolitan areas through January 1, 2027. The ban covers city condos and houses; most rural and recreational property sits outside it.
• Australia requires government approval and points foreign buyers at new dwellings. Established homes are off the table from April 2025 through March 2027, and the 2026-27 Budget announced an extension to June 30, 2029. Application fees start at A$4,600 and rise with the price.
• Switzerland applies the Lex Koller: non-resident buyers need authorization and are essentially limited to holiday homes under a national quota of 1,500 permits a year, with size limits. Foreign residents with a C permit buy like locals.
• Denmark requires permission from the Department of Civil Affairs unless you have lived in Denmark for a total of five years. EU and EEA citizens working in Denmark can buy a year-round home without it.
• Mexico restricts direct foreign title within 50 km of the coast and 100 km of a border. Inside that zone, foreigners buy through a fideicomiso, a renewable 50-year bank trust that leaves you the rights to use, rent, sell, and bequeath the home.
• The Gulf channels foreign buyers into designated areas. The UAE offers freehold in designated zones such as Dubai Marina and Yas Island, and property of AED 2 million or more can qualify the owner for the UAE's 10-year Golden Visa. Qatar opens 9 freehold areas and 16 more for 99-year usufruct. Saudi Arabia's new ownership law took effect in January 2026 with designated zones in Riyadh and Jeddah.
• New Zealand still generally bars overseas buyers from existing homes, but since March 2026 investor-visa holders can apply to buy one home worth over NZ$5 million.

The exchange rate is a purchase cost, so treat it like one. Moving €250,000 across a border at a rate 1 percent worse than the market costs you €2,500, more than the notary's fee in several countries. The World Bank's Remittance Prices survey consistently finds banks the most expensive channel and specialist providers cheaper. Spreads on large transfers are far smaller in percentage terms than on small ones, but the ranking holds, so get two or three quotes on the actual amount before you commit.

The money itself should only ever travel through the formal channel: the notary's client account in notary countries, the regulated escrow or title company elsewhere. Expect to document where it came from. The EU's anti-money-laundering rules make notaries, lawyers, and estate agents run source-of-funds checks on buyers, and in the United States FinCEN adopted a rule requiring reports on all-cash transfers to companies and trusts, though a federal court vacated it in March 2026 and no reports are currently required while the government appeals. The paperwork can add weeks. It is also exactly what makes the account you are wiring into a verified, supervised one.

In many countries, yes, on tighter terms. Portugal's central bank caps loan-to-value at 80 percent for most non-primary-residence lending, and non-residents are typically offered less than the cap. French banks that lend to non-residents commonly cap loans around 70 percent of the purchase price, and French rules cap borrowing costs at 35 percent of income and terms at 25 years for everyone. Plan on a 30 to 40 percent down payment as a non-resident and treat anything better as a bonus.

Lenders prefer income they can verify and a currency they can predict. Under the EU's Mortgage Credit Directive, a bank lending in a currency other than your income currency must give you conversion rights and other exchange-rate protections, so many banks simply avoid non-euro income, and borrowers earning in dollars or pounds see lower ratios or outright refusals. This, more than anything, is why so many expat purchases are cash.

If you do borrow, match the mortgage currency to your income currency, not to the country of the property. A euro mortgage paid from dollar income adds a second, unhedged bet on top of the house, and the payment moves with the exchange rate every month. Our mortgage calculator works in any currency, so you can compare the same loan both ways before you commit.

Entirely, and people do it every day. The standard tool is a power of attorney: you sign it before a notary at home, get it apostilled, and your lawyer or the notary abroad acts on it. The apostille replaces consular legalization under the 1961 Hague Convention, which counted 130 contracting states as of June 2026, so for most country pairs this is one certificate, not an embassy queue. Budget for a sworn translation of the document.

Do the tax number first, because everything else waits on it. Spain's NIE can be requested at a Spanish consulate abroad. Portugal's NIF is free, and applicants outside the EU and EEA generally need a fiscal representative in Portugal unless they opt into the tax authority's electronic notifications. Italy's codice fiscale can be issued to non-residents through a consulate or a delegated representative, and having one does not make you an Italian tax resident.

One well-planned trip beats three vague ones. Build your shortlist remotely, then use the trip to view those homes back to back, meet your lawyer in person, open the bank account, and sign the power of attorney locally if you have not already. The closing itself can then happen without you on the ground.

• Rent in the neighborhood first. Three months as a tenant teaches you more about noise, light, and the commute than any viewing trip, and it prices the local market for you before you make an offer.
• Watch legal timetables as closely as prices. Portugal ended its real estate golden visa route in October 2023, Spain abolished its investor visa in April 2025, and Greece raised its thresholds to EUR 800,000 in its most popular areas in 2024. Buy the home on its own merits, and treat any visa attached to it as a bonus with an expiry date.
• Hire a lawyer who represents only you. The notary is impartial by design, the seller's agent works for the seller, and the developer's recommended lawyer sits a little too close to the developer. Your own lawyer is a small line item on a six-figure purchase.
• Order the registry extract yourself. Most countries let anyone buy the title extract for a small fee, and it shows the legal owner, mortgages, and charges before you commit to anything. Each of our country guides names the registry for that market.
• Think ahead to selling. The market you buy into is also the market you will one day sell in. Typical agent commissions run from 0.4 percent to 8 percent depending on the country, and a country where owners routinely sell directly keeps that cheaper option open for you too.

Every country below links to a full guide to how that market works: who oversees the transfer, what the registry is called, which taxes apply, and how the process runs from offer to keys. The commission and closing-cost figures come from our reviewed market data, last reviewed June 6, 2026. Where a line is missing, we do not have a reviewed figure for that market, so we leave it out rather than guess.