Lisbon, Feb. 3, 2025 (Lusa) - A total of 19,745 young people in Portugal benefited from exemption from municipal property tax (IMT), stamp duty and other fees when buying their first home, according to data provided to Lusa by the country's Ministry of Youth and Modernisation.

According to the same information, which reflects the situation up to 19 January, the number of houses purchased by beneficiaries of this measure totalled 13,892, with the average value of the houses transacted remaining at €187,000.

In recent statements to Lusa, the minister for youth and modernisation, Margarida Balseiro Lopes, gave a positive assessment of this measure, considering that it has made it possible to "remove obstacles" in young people's access to housing.

The number of people who have benefited from the measure in its six and a half months of application compares with the 3,098 who bought a house with exemption from IMT and stamp duty in the first month and a half of the measure, when 2,141 properties were purchased.

The IMT Jovem youth scheme began to be applied in August last year, and a table of this tax was created for the beneficiaries of the measure, which includes four brackets, including total exemption on purchases that fall into the first of these brackets and the application of an 8% rate on the value that fits into the next bracket.

With the entry into force of the 2025 state budget and the updating of the IMT brackets by 2.3%, the value of the transaction that benefits from total exemption was set at 324,058 (an increase of around €7,000 compared to the value in force in 2024), while the portion taxed at 8% rose to €648,022 (compared to €633,453 in 2024).

In order to have access to this measure, which is granted automatically, young people must not have owned property in the three years prior to buying the house, and the age limit (35) is measured at the time of the deed.

LT/ARO // ARO.

Lusa