How much property transfer tax is due on a €400,000 home across Europe?
Buy the same €400,000 home in different parts of Europe and the transfer tax ranges from €4,000 in Ireland to €26,000 in the four German Länder with the top rate. Germany alone spans most of that range: Bavaria charges €14,000, while Brandenburg, North Rhine-Westphalia, Saarland and Schleswig-Holstein charge €26,000, a gap of €12,000.
Brussels comes close to the top at €25,000, even after its first-home allowance. The Netherlands charges €8,000 at its own-home rate, and nothing at all for a qualifying first-time buyer under 35.
The buyer we priced
Every figure here is one purchase run through each country's transfer tax calculator on this site. The buyer is an individual, aged 40, buying an existing home for €400,000 to live in as their main home. They're not a first-time buyer and this is the only home they'll own. We compared 25 places: all 16 German Länder, the Netherlands, Ireland, Austria, the three Belgian regions, Finland (once for a house and once for an apartment) and Portugal.
We left out Spain, France and Italy. Spain's transfer tax (ITP) is set region by region, France charges departmental duties through the notary, and Italy's registration tax depends on the cadastral value. This site doesn't have a calculator for any of them yet, so we have no figure we can stand behind.
Transfer tax on a €400,000 home, place by place
Sort by any column. The rate column is the tax divided by the €400,000 price.
Property transfer tax on a €400,000 home in Europe, 2026
Download CSVEuros. Individual buying a resale home as a main residence, aged 40, not a first-time buyer. Tax only: notary, land registry and agent fees are not included. Source: Bedrock Calculator transfer tax engines for each country.
| Germany: Brandenburg | €26,000 | 6.5% | Grunderwerbsteuer 6.5% |
| Germany: Nordrhein-Westfalen (North Rhine-Westphalia) | €26,000 | 6.5% | Grunderwerbsteuer 6.5% |
| Germany: Saarland | €26,000 | 6.5% | Grunderwerbsteuer 6.5% |
| Germany: Schleswig-Holstein | €26,000 | 6.5% | Grunderwerbsteuer 6.5% |
| Belgium: Brussels | €25,000 | 6.3% | Registration duty, only-home rate |
| Germany: Berlin | €24,000 | 6.0% | Grunderwerbsteuer 6.0% |
| Germany: Hessen (Hesse) | €24,000 | 6.0% | Grunderwerbsteuer 6.0% |
| Germany: Mecklenburg-Vorpommern | €24,000 | 6.0% | Grunderwerbsteuer 6.0% |
| Germany: Bremen | €22,000 | 5.5% | Grunderwerbsteuer 5.5% |
| Germany: Hamburg | €22,000 | 5.5% | Grunderwerbsteuer 5.5% |
| Germany: Sachsen (Saxony) | €22,000 | 5.5% | Grunderwerbsteuer 5.5% |
| Portugal | €21,436.65 | 5.4% | IMT plus stamp duty (imposto do selo), main home |
| Germany: Baden-Württemberg | €20,000 | 5.0% | Grunderwerbsteuer 5.0% |
| Germany: Niedersachsen (Lower Saxony) | €20,000 | 5.0% | Grunderwerbsteuer 5.0% |
| Germany: Rheinland-Pfalz (Rhineland-Palatinate) | €20,000 | 5.0% | Grunderwerbsteuer 5.0% |
| Germany: Sachsen-Anhalt (Saxony-Anhalt) | €20,000 | 5.0% | Grunderwerbsteuer 5.0% |
| Germany: Thüringen (Thuringia) | €20,000 | 5.0% | Grunderwerbsteuer 5.0% |
| Germany: Bavaria (Bayern) | €14,000 | 3.5% | Grunderwerbsteuer 3.5% |
| Austria | €14,000 | 3.5% | Grunderwerbsteuer, standard rate (land registry fee not included) |
| Belgium: Wallonia | €12,000 | 3.0% | Registration duty, only-home rate |
| Finland: house | €12,000 | 3.0% | Varainsiirtovero on real estate |
| Netherlands | €8,000 | 2.0% | Overdrachtsbelasting, own-home rate |
| Belgium: Flanders | €8,000 | 2.0% | Registration duty, only-home rate |
| Finland: apartment | €6,000 | 1.5% | Varainsiirtovero on housing company shares |
| Ireland | €4,000 | 1.0% | Residential stamp duty |
Why German Grunderwerbsteuer varies so much by Land
Germany sets the rules for Grunderwerbsteuer nationally, but since 2006 each Land sets its own rate. Most have raised it since. On our €400,000 home, Bavaria's rate gives €14,000. Five Länder, including Baden-Württemberg and Lower Saxony, charge €20,000. Hamburg, Bremen and Saxony charge €22,000. Berlin, Hesse and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern charge €24,000. The top four charge €26,000.
There's no first-time buyer relief anywhere in Germany, so a young family buying its first flat in Düsseldorf pays the full €26,000. That's a lot of cash to find on top of the deposit, since buyers usually pay the purchase costs from savings.
Ireland and the Netherlands keep it low for homeowners
Ireland's residential stamp duty is 1.0% up to €1 million, so our buyer pays €4,000. That's the lowest in the comparison.
The Netherlands charges overdrachtsbelasting of 2.0% on a home you'll live in, which is €8,000 here. Two things change that a lot. A first-time buyer aged 18 to 34 can claim the startersvrijstelling and pay €0, as long as the price is no more than €555,000. A buy-to-let investor or second-home buyer pays €32,000, four times the own-home bill.
Belgium: it depends on the region and on whether it's your only home
Belgian registration duty (registratiebelasting or droits d'enregistrement) is set by each region, and all three cut it sharply for someone buying their only home to live in. On our €400,000 home that gives €8,000 in Flanders, €12,000 in Wallonia and €25,000 in Brussels. Brussels keeps a high rate but exempts the first slice of the price, the abattement.
Buy the same home when you already own another, and the bill jumps to €48,000 in Flanders and €50,000 in Brussels and Wallonia. No other country in the comparison charges as much on a second property.
How the buyer changes the transfer tax on a €400,000 home
Download CSVEuros. Same price; buyer details changed as shown. Source: Bedrock Calculator transfer tax engines.
| Belgium: Wallonia, not your only home | €50,000 | 12.5% |
| Belgium: Brussels, not your only home | €50,000 | 12.5% |
| Belgium: Flanders, not your only home | €48,000 | 12.0% |
| Netherlands: buy-to-let or second home | €32,000 | 8.0% |
| Portugal: second home | €22,500.11 | 5.6% |
| Portugal: first home, buyer under 35 (IMT Jovem) | €6,112.57 | 1.5% |
| Netherlands: first-time buyer under 35 (startersvrijstelling) | €0 | 0.0% |
Portugal, Austria and Finland
Portugal charges two taxes: IMT on a sliding scale and stamp duty (imposto do selo) on top. For our buyer that's €18,237 of IMT and €3,200 of stamp duty, €21,437 in total. Under 35 and buying a first home, IMT Jovem exempts the first €330,539 of value from both taxes, cutting the bill to €6,113.
Austria's Grunderwerbsteuer on a normal purchase is 3.5%, or €14,000. Austrian buyers also pay a separate land registry fee that this figure leaves out.
Finland taxes a house and an apartment differently. A house is real estate and pays €12,000. Most Finnish apartments are bought as shares in a housing company, which pay €6,000. Finland abolished its first-time buyer exemption at the end of 2023.
What these numbers leave out
Other closing costs. Every figure is the transfer tax only. Notary fees, land registry fees and agent commission are extra everywhere, and in Germany, Belgium and Austria they add a few percent more.
Spain, France and Italy. Not included, for the reason above.
Special cases. Family transfers, new builds charged VAT, company purchases and Brussels' extra abattement for energy renovation are not modelled. Every calculator assumes a straightforward purchase by a private buyer at market value.
Rates move. German Länder change their rates every few years, and Belgian regions changed theirs in 2025 and 2026. These are the 2026 rates in each calculator.
Run your own numbers
Put your own price into the Germany property transfer tax calculator, the Netherlands transfer tax calculator, the Ireland stamp duty calculator, the Belgium registration duty calculator or the Portugal IMT calculator. For the yearly property tax you'll pay after you buy, and for wealth taxes on what you own, see our comparison of wealth taxes in Europe.
