Current as of June 2026. Sources and methodology are listed at the end of this article.
How much does it really cost a foreign buyer to purchase a home in Italy, over and above the price? Less than the familiar “budget 10 to 15%” rule of thumb suggests, at least for a prime resale, because the heaviest tax is charged not on what you pay but on the property’s much lower cadastral value. On a typical prime second home bought from a private seller, the one-off costs are dominated by the estate-agency commission and the notary, with the registration tax often a surprisingly small figure. Buying a new home from a developer is a different and more expensive story, because there VAT applies to the full price. This guide breaks down every cost, with a worked example.
The one-off costs at a glance
- Registration tax (imposta di registro) from a private seller: 9% for a second home, or 2% for a qualifying first home, charged on the cadastral value, not the price, under the prezzo-valore rule.
- Mortgage and cadastral taxes: a fixed 50 plus 50 euros from a private seller, or 200 plus 200 euros when VAT applies.
- Buying new from a developer: VAT of 4%, 10% or 22% on the price, the 22% reserved for luxury-category homes.
- Notary fee: not fixed, typically a fraction of one per cent on a prime purchase, with the notary also collecting and paying the taxes.
- Estate-agency commission: a market-standard 3% to 5% plus 22% VAT, usually the single largest cost.
- A codice fiscale (tax code) is free and required; a sworn interpreter at signing is mandatory if you do not speak Italian.
The transfer taxes, and the rule that lowers them
The main purchase tax on a resale bought from a private individual is the imposta di registro, a one-off registration tax on the transfer of the property. For a second home, which is what a prime or holiday purchase almost always is, it is 9%; the reduced 2% first-home rate requires you to take up residence in the comune within eighteen months, which most foreign buyers do not. The figure that matters, though, is what the 9% is charged on. Under the prezzo-valore mechanism, a private buyer can have the tax calculated on the property’s cadastral value rather than the price paid, and on prime property the cadastral value is typically a fraction of the market price. You must request prezzo-valore at the deed; once applied, the tax authority cannot later reassess the declared price. Two small fixed taxes, the imposta ipotecaria and the imposta catastale, add 50 euros each.
What Changes If You Buy New from a Developer?
If you buy from a company that built or renovated the property and sells with VAT, the picture changes. VAT, in Italian IVA, replaces the proportional registration tax and is charged on the actual price: 4% for a qualifying first home, 10% for a second home that is not in a luxury category, and 22% for luxury homes, those in cadastral categories A/1, A/8 and A/9. The fixed registration, mortgage and cadastral taxes are then 200 euros each. Because VAT falls on the full price, not the cadastral value, a new-build luxury purchase is materially more expensive in tax than an equivalent resale: 22% of a 3 million euro price is 660,000 euros. For most prime buyers this is the single most important distinction to establish early: are you buying from a private owner, or from a VAT-registered seller?
Resale or new-build: the cost gap
| On a €2 million prime second home | From a private seller | New-build from a developer |
|---|---|---|
| Main transfer tax | Registration 9% on the cadastral value, about €30,600 via prezzo-valore | VAT 10%, or 22% on luxury, on the price: €200,000 to €440,000 |
| Mortgage + cadastral | €50 + €50 | €200 + €200 |
| Notary | about €6,000 to €8,000 | about €6,000 to €8,000 |
| Agency, buyer side | about 4% + VAT, around €97,600 | about 4% + VAT, around €97,600 |
| Indicative one-off total | near €135,000, just under 7% of the price | roughly €304,000 to €546,000 |
The notary
Every Italian property transfer is completed by a notaio, a public official who verifies title, draws up and authenticates the deed, the rogito, and registers it. The buyer chooses the notary and pays the fee, which since 2012 is no longer fixed by tariff, though a floor applies. On a prime purchase the professional fee is usually a fraction of one per cent of the price, in the region of a few thousand to several thousand euros, and the notary also collects all the taxes above and remits them to the state on your behalf. Always ask for a written estimate, a preventivo, before the deed. The notary is neutral between the parties; their job is the legality of the transaction, not your negotiation.
Agency, tax code and interpreter
Italy charges estate-agency commission on both sides of a deal: buyer and seller each pay their own agent. The market standard is 3% to 5% of the price plus 22% VAT, with prime transactions often landing around 4%. On most prime purchases this is the largest single cost after the price itself. You will also need a codice fiscale, the Italian tax identification number, which is free and obtained from an Italian consulate before you travel or from a tax office in Italy. Finally, a point many buyers miss: if you do not understand Italian and the notary does not speak your language, Italian law requires a sworn interpreter at the signing, and a deed completed without one can be void. Budget a few hundred euros for it.
What Is the Annual IMU After You Buy?
One cost is not a one-off. IMU, the imposta municipale propria, is an annual municipal property tax, and a second home or a home owned by a non-resident is liable for it. The standard base rate is 0.86%, which each comune can adjust within a range up to 1.06%, applied to a revalued cadastral figure rather than the market price. A non-luxury first home is exempt; a luxury home is not, even if it is your only one. It is paid in two instalments, in June and December. For a prime second home it is a meaningful recurring figure to factor into the cost of ownership, not just the cost of purchase.
A worked example
Take a prime apartment in Rome bought from a private seller for 2 million euros, with a cadastral income (rendita) of 2,700 euros. Using prezzo-valore, the tax base becomes roughly 340,000 euros, so the 9% registration tax is about 30,600 euros, not the 180,000 euros that 9% of the price would imply. Add the two fixed taxes of 50 euros each, a notary fee of perhaps 6,000 to 8,000 euros, agency commission at 4% plus VAT of about 97,600 euros, a free codice fiscale and an interpreter at around 300 euros. The one-off cost lands near 135,000 euros, just under 7% of the price, with the agency commission, not the tax, as the largest line. Buy the same value new from a developer, and 10% or 22% VAT on the full price changes the arithmetic completely.
You can see the kind of resale this arithmetic applies to in a new apartment with a garden in Rome and in a luxury villa with a spa and gym in Casal Palocco, a useful contrast between a straightforward resale and a higher-spec purchase. For the buyer profile behind these numbers, see our piece on who is buying Italy’s prime property in 2026, and for the practical steps from offer to keys, our complete step-by-step buying guide and our guide to Italy’s 2026 building regulations.
Get your costs in writing before you make an offer
Send us the property, or the kind of home you are targeting, and your residency position, and Trevi Elite will return a written, itemised cost estimate, registration tax or VAT, notary, agency and annual IMU, for your exact case before you commit a euro. We guide international buyers through the whole purchase to the rogito. Start with our guidance on buying property in Italy and our Rome and Lazio guides, then write to our advisors and we will cost your purchase for you.
Sources: Agenzia delle Entrate (purchase taxes: registration, mortgage and cadastral); Agenzia delle Entrate (first-home benefits and rates); Consiglio Nazionale del Notariato (prezzo-valore mechanism and the notary’s role); Agenzia delle Entrate (codice fiscale); Dipartimento delle Finanze (IMU). General information, not tax or legal advice; tax rates change. Current as of June 2026.
