What costs are involved in buying a home?

Anyone buying a house or apartment can be fooled by the final price tag in an instant. This is why a detailed budget and planning are key.

1. Taxes on your purchase: registration duties or VAT

When buying an existing home in Belgium, you pay registration duties. However, different rules apply in different parts of the country, as Flanders, Brussels and Wallonia each have their own rates, reductions and exemptions in place.

In Flanders

• Since the start of 2025, a sales tax of 2% has been charged on the purchase price if it concerns your own – and only – home. If it is your only residence and the selling price remains below €220,000 (or €240,000 for properties in city centres and the Flemish areas around Brussels), an additional reduction of €1,867 on the sales tax applies.
• The tax increases to 12% if you are buying additional properties, while the lower rate of 1% for anyone carrying out a thorough energy renovation was abolished in early 2025. If, as the buyer, you rent the property out within three years through a recognised social letting agency, you will pay 7% in registration duties.

Find out about all the conditions and exemptions

In Brussels

The basic rate is 12.5% of the purchase price. However, there is a significant benefit here:

• For a sole family home, you do not pay registration fees on the first tranche of €200,000, provided that the total price remains below €600,000 (€300,000 for building plots). This equates to a reduction of €25,000.
• If you plan to make your home more energy-efficient, you will be eligible for an additional exemption, as the exemption will increase by €25,000 for every energy efficiency level your property goes up by. However, you must improve your property's energy efficiency level by at least two classes within five years. As an example, if you buy a family home with an 'E' energy rating and renovate it to improve it to a 'B' energy rating, you will not pay registration duties on a tranche of €275,000 (instead of €200,000).

Read more about the conditions and exemptions

In Wallonia

• When you buy your primary family home, you pay registration duties of 3% on the purchase price. This reduced rate also applies to plots of land and homes still under construction. The rate rises to 12.5% for additional properties.
• You should also remember that Wallonia has recently abolished some tax breaks, such as the housing voucher tax incentive and certain reductions for modest homes. Always make sure that you are aware of the latest rules and regulations.

Find out more about the conditions and exemptions

If you are buying a new-build home, you will pay VAT instead of registration duties. In principle, the VAT rate stands at 21%, but there are a few exceptions:

• If you buy a new social home from a public centre for social welfare (CPAS/OCMW), VAT is payable at 12%.
• If you are buying a new-build from a regional housing company or from
• a social housing company approved by a notary, the VAT stands at 6%.
• When purchasing an on-plan property, you pay registration duties on the land and VAT on the construction, even if the property is ready at the time of signing the deed.

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2. Notary fees: deed costs are set by law

A notary is essential when buying a home. They draw up the deeds, take care of the official registration and collect any taxes due on behalf of the government. Notary fees consist of several components:

Notary fee

• The notary fee is set by law and operates on a degressive scale. In other words, the higher the property's purchase price, the lower the percentage rate.
• This fee applies to both the deed of purchase and the mortgage deed (see below), although both are calculated separately.
• If the buyer and seller each have a notary, the fee payable is unaffected as both notaries split the amount due.

Administrative costs

• Administrative costs include all manner of searches (such as consulting the land register, mortgage registers and urban planning information), transactions and formalities that are not covered by the notary fee,
• and are flat-rate amounts. In the case of a deed of purchase, administrative costs are €813, while such costs are €813 or €596 for a mortgage deed. (This fee depends on whether the mortgage deed is the main deed or not. If a mortgage deed is accompanied by a deed of purchase, the mortgage deed constitutes an additional deed for which a flat-rate fee of €596 is charged.)

Simulate the registration duties and notary fees for purchasing a property or plot of building land

3. Mortgage costs

For most buyers, a mortgage loan is an absolute must. However, this also involves additional costs.

Bank charges

• Most banks charge an arrangement fee for opening your credit file. Such rates vary from bank to bank, so it is worth shopping around. A bank may charge a maximum of €350 in arrangement fees (€300 for a bridging loan and €175 for refinancing). Always make sure to negotiate with your bank when it comes to the arrangement fees, as some banks may be willing to waive them (at least in part) in order to acquire a new customer.
• The value of the property indicated in the mortgage must be determined. The estimate may be made using statistical models or an on-site visit. As a rule, the bank will appoint the expert and pass the expert's fees on to the borrower.

Registration duties, mortgage fees and related costs

• You pay two fees for the amount you borrow. The first fee stands at 1% and is payable to register the mortgage loan (not to be confused with the registration duties). The second fee covers the subscription fees for the mortgage, which stands at 0.3% of the amount borrowed.
• Administrative costs and notary fees are also payable (see above).

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4. Other costs and taxes for governments and administrative bodies

The buyer pays these costs to the notary's office, which then transfers the funds to the relevant administrative bodies. Certain costs vary from municipality to municipality.

• Documentary duties are a federal tax imposed on notary deeds.
• Annex duties are a tax imposed for registering additional documents.
• Prior to the purchase: the costs associated with the transfer of surrender or costs associated with the removal or release of an existing registration.
• Charges for requesting mortgage statements: this amount depends on the mortgage statement (30 years or additional statements) and its urgency.
• Expenses to third parties are costs paid by the notary to third parties (governments or other bodies). These expenses are in addition to the flat-rate administrative costs (see above). Most deeds require searches, documents, disclosures and so on, subject to a fee payable to third parties (such as urban planning information or requesting a mortgage statement). Fees charged by third parties vary from file to file.

5. Costs owed to the seller

In addition to the actual purchase price (which the notary will transfer to the seller), you will likely have to pay a proportion of the property tax, too. This will be the case if the seller has already paid the annual property tax and you buy the property in the current tax year. In this case you, as the buyer, will pay the portion of the property tax that corresponds to the rest of the year.

6. Architect and permits

If you are buying a property that you want to renovate or extend, you may need to engage an architect. Unlike notaries, however, architects are free to set their own fees. Architects' fees can be calculated in different ways (as a percentage of the construction costs, according to the number of square metres to be built, as an hourly rate, and so on). The amount ultimately depends on the scope of the assignment and the architect's reputation and experience. However, the architect must clearly set out which services they provide under contract and how much they charge.

You will be charged fees for an environmental permit (urban planning permit). These vary from municipality to municipality and can rise to up to several hundred euros.

7. Insurance

Insurance policies protect you, your family and the financial institution that is lending you the funds.

• Debt balance insurance covers (part of) the loan outstanding in the event of death. The bank usually requires you to take out this type of insurance when taking out a mortgage. How much it costs will vary depending on your age, health status and the amount of the loan.
• Almost all banks require you to take out fire insurance, too. This insurance covers typical claims such as fire, storm and water damage and can often be extended with additional cover.
• Although not compulsory, family insurance (civil liability) may also be of interest. This covers damage caused to third parties by you or your family members (including pets), such as damage suffered by neighbours or damage caused by your children to someone else's property.

8. Costs associated with shared ownership

If you buy an apartment or another type of building under shared ownership, you will also be responsible for communal costs, such as the cleaning of the stairwell and other communal areas, the renovation of facades, maintaining or replacing the lift, maintaining the garden, and more... Some buildings even have a shared water or heating system, too.

Many shared ownerships have a reserve fund for major expenses in the future, and may also have a concierge and/or a property manager. A property manager manages the finances and administration of the shared-ownership property, and their remuneration will be added onto the communal costs.

The deed of sale and the rules for shared ownership set out each joint owner's share in the communal costs. It is recommended that you request the rules surrounding shared ownership and the most recent minutes of the annual general meeting to avoid any unpleasant surprises such as planned works or future cost rises.

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