Owning is more than the mortgage. Every year you also pay property tax and maintenance. See your true annual running cost by country before you buy.
Once you own, two costs repeat every single year for as long as you hold the property:
Lenders and buyers often forget running costs. On a $300,000 home, 2% combined is $6,000 a year — $500 a month on top of your mortgage. Factoring this in early prevents the classic mistake of buying a home you can afford to purchase but not to keep.
Property tax and maintenance are only part of the picture if you let the home — part of retirement income, a holiday home rented in the off-season, or a buy-to-let. Every country except the UAE also taxes the rent, and the way it does so matters as much as the rate: some tax your profit after costs, others tax the gross rent with no deductions at all. A 21% tax on gross rent (Italy's flat rate) takes far more than 21% of your profit.
The table below shows the rate for a non-resident individual letting long-term — the usual case for cross-border buyers. Residents are often taxed at progressive rates instead; the note gives the full rule. On a reference €100,000 home, the last column shows the tax on one year's average rent.
| Country | Rate | Charged on | Tax on €100k home | How it works |
|---|
📌 Sources, verified October 2026: PwC Worldwide Tax Summaries and each country's tax authority (IRS, HMRC, impots.gouv.fr, Agencia Tributaria, Autoridade Tributária, Agenzia delle Entrate, AADE, ANAF, ATO, CRA, NTA, IRAS, Receita Federal, Thai Revenue Department), cross-checked with national tax guides. Double-tax treaties and your home country's rules can change the final bill — confirm with a local tax adviser. Rates feed the Net ROI figures on our country comparison.