Portugal’s public guarantee for young buyers ends December 31, 2026: here’s what you need to know before it’s too late.
What does the end of this state guarantee change for your property project in Portugal if you’re between 18 and 35 years old?
In a few months, one of the most generous support schemes ever introduced by the government to help young people under 35 become homeowners in Portugal is set to come to an end. The State’s public guarantee, which currently allows you to borrow up to 100% of a property’s value with no down payment at all, is due to expire on December 31, 2026.
After that date, unless an extension is announced, the public guarantee ends. And this deadline arrives much faster than it seems once you look at the real timelines involved in finalizing a mortgage application. Here’s why now is the time to take advantage of it.
The countdown has already started
Technically, the measure remains in effect until December 31, 2026. But between the moment our brokers put together your file and the day of signing, several weeks go by: the bank’s review of the file, the property valuation, the approval decision, and scheduling the signing appointment.
In practice, if you wait until November or December 2026 to start your property project, there’s little chance your file will be approved in time.
What changes if you miss the opportunity to benefit from this public guarantee
To really understand what’s at stake, here’s exactly what this guarantee changes in practice.
A young person under 35 looking to buy a €300,000 home, financed at 100% thanks to the public guarantee, would need no down payment at all.
Without the guarantee, that same purchase would require a personal down payment of around 10% of the property’s value, since banks generally don’t finance more than 90% without this scheme. On that same €300,000 home, this means putting down around €30,000 as a “sinal” (deposit), in addition to the taxes and fees due outside the purchase price. An amount that the vast majority of young working people simply don’t have available today.
In short: the difference between buying before or after December 31, 2026 isn’t an administrative detail — it’s tens of thousands of euros in down payment to find, or several extra years of saving before being able to become a homeowner.
Why this deadline should motivate you to (re)launch your property project
Many young people assume the measure will likely be extended, and so prefer to wait before getting started. That’s a risky bet, for several reasons:
No extension has been confirmed to date. The decision will depend on the 2027 State Budget proposal, which will only be presented in October 2026 — just two months before the deadline.
Demand is surging, which is already making access more difficult. In the second quarter of 2026, around 7,800 mortgages were signed under this guarantee, worth €1.7 billion — more than half of all mortgages granted to young people during that period and representing a 13.5% increase in a single quarter. The closer the deadline gets, the more banks and notaries risk coming under pressure from a last-minute rush of applications.
The government has reinforced the measure’s budget, not its duration. In April 2026, the funding envelope was increased by €750 million to avoid running out of allocated funds before year-end — but this changes absolutely nothing about the December 31, 2026 deadline.
What would remain for young buyers if the guarantee isn’t extended
Good news nonetheless: young buyers still have access to other benefits. IMT Jovem, the other major benefit granted to young buyers, has no expiration date — it is a permanent tax law set out in the Tax Code and will continue to apply unless the law changes. It provides a full exemption from IMT and Stamp Duty up to €330,539, and a partial exemption up to €660,982, representing around €9,000 in savings on a €250,000 home.
But it doesn’t replace the public guarantee: IMT Jovem reduces costs at the time of signing, while the public guarantee solves the far bigger problem of the initial down payment. Losing the guarantee means losing the ability to buy without already having tens of thousands of euros set aside — which, for many young people, means pushing their purchase back by several years.
Reminder of the public guarantee’s conditions:
- Be between 18 and 35 years old on the date the loan is signed (both members of the couple, if buying together and wanting the full guarantee).
- Buy your primary, permanent residence.
- Not already own a home.
- Have income up to the 8th IRS bracket (income tax).
- Be in good standing with tax and social security authorities.
- The property must be worth a maximum of €450,000.
Even if you meet all these criteria, the final decision to grant the loan still rests with the bank, which always assesses your repayment capacity. That’s precisely why it’s better to move quickly, with a well-prepared file and proper guidance, rather than discovering an obstacle at the last minute.
In a nutshell
The public guarantee for young buyers ends on December 31, 2026, with no certainty of an extension. What matters isn’t that date itself, but the time you actually have left to finalize a mortgage application before it expires.
Want to discuss your property project, your borrowing capacity, and your eligibility for this public guarantee? Contact us for a free, personalized simulation: comercial@spreadhunters.pt
