About Buying Costs
An independent calculator for the full cost of buying a home in another country: the purchase taxes, stamp duties, notary, registry and lawyer fees, and any surcharge for foreign buyers.
Who it is for
People buying a home abroad: moving for work or retirement, working remotely, or buying a second home. Most have found a property or a price range and need to know what it costs on top of the price before they commit, often in a tax system and a language they don't read.
What it does
It covers 8 places in Portugal, Spain and England. For the price, the date and the buyer you enter, it lists every tax and fee that applies, with the law or official page each one comes from and the day it was checked. The rules are kept as dated versions, so a purchase before or after a change gets the rules in force on its date.
It says what it knows and what it doesn't. Market fees are shown as estimates with a range. A figure that could not be confirmed against a source is highlighted, with the reason. Today 29 sources are cited, last checked on 2 November 2026. How the numbers are made describes the engine, the tests and what is not covered.
Who publishes this
Buying Costs is published by Hatim Rih, a software developer.
The site is made from a rules engine. Each tax and fee is written down once, as a dated rule that cites the law or the official page it comes from, and every amount on the site, in the calculators and in the guides, is worked out from those rules; no figure is typed by hand. Facts the engine does not hold are linked to their official source.
To get in touch, use the contact form or write to contact@buyingcosts.com.
If you find a wrong figure, report it through the form, with the page it is on. The fix goes into the rule the figure comes from, so every page that shows it, calculator and guide alike, changes together on the next build, and the source line shows the date it was checked again.
Free, with no sign-up
The calculators and guides are free and need no account. Nothing you enter in a calculator leaves your browser; the privacy page says exactly what happens when you use the site.
Not tax or legal advice
Buying Costs gives estimates from published rules for the situation you describe. It is not tax, legal or financial advice. Rules change and individual cases differ; your notary, lawyer or the tax office has the final word. Before you sign anything, confirm the figures with a lawyer or notary in the country where you are buying.