You've found a price you can live with. The listing says €200,000, the numbers in your head add up, and you're ready to move.
Here is the kindest thing I can tell you before you do: the asking price is only part of what you'll pay, and some of your biggest costs aren't even calculated on it. This is where foreign buyers get their biggest shock in Italy, and it's entirely avoidable — you just need to see the whole picture before you fall too hard for the house.
Let me walk you through what actually makes up the cost of buying a home in Italy, so there are no unpleasant surprises at the notary's table.
The number that decides your tax: the rendita catastale
For a normal resale — a home that's been lived in before — your purchase taxes are usually calculated not on the price you pay but on the rendita catastale, the cadastral value. Federica calls it "a mysterious number," and that's fair: it's roughly the notional annual income the property could earn, it often hasn't changed since the house was built, and it can be significantly lower than the market price, especially on an older home.
That's genuinely good news for your tax bill — but it means you can't estimate your taxes from the sale price. You need to know the property's rendita catastale first. The question worth asking early is simply: "What is the rendita catastale for this property, and what will my purchase taxes be based on?"
Watch the nugget — The tax that isn't based on your price →
First home or second home — the difference is thousands
Whether you buy as a prima casa (first home) or a seconda casa (second home) changes your tax rate significantly, because the cadastral value is fed into a different formula for each. The gap can easily run to thousands of euros, and it even influences your mortgage rate.
The catch for foreign buyers is that first-home treatment has conditions — notably transferring your residency to the property within a set window after purchase — and one reassuring clarification: prima casa doesn't mean you own no other property anywhere in the world. It means you have no other home registered as a first home in Italy. This deserves its own article, and it has one. For budgeting, the point is this: know which rate truly applies to you before you count on the saving.
Buying a new build is a different tax world
If you're buying from a developer rather than a private seller, the maths flips: you're taxed on the purchase price, through VAT, rather than on the cadastral value.
The difference is real money. On a €300,000 new build, VAT at the first-home rate comes to around €12,000, while at the second-home rate it's around €27,000 — new-build VAT runs at 4% of the price for a first home and 9% for a second. And new builds carry other costs people forget: they often come without kitchens or light fittings, and sometimes the utilities haven't been connected yet, so budget for getting electricity, water and gas up and running.
Watch the nugget — New build vs old — how the tax flips →
The fees that come with the people who help you
Beyond tax, there are the professionals the purchase involves. Budget for them from the start:
- Agency commission. In Italy the estate agent is paid by the buyer too, typically a percentage of the price plus 22% VAT. If you inquire about a property an agent holds, you'll owe that commission if you buy it.
- The notary (notaio). A mandatory public official — a role as high as a judge here — who makes the sale official, verifies every legal and cadastral detail, and handles the taxes. Their fee varies with the property and the deal. This isn't an expense to resent; the notary is a large part of what protects you.
- A geometra or architect. Not required, but money very well spent if you want someone to actually check the structure and confirm the floor plan matches reality. On an older home it can save many times its price.
- A power of attorney. If you can't be present, or don't speak fluent Italian, a procura is usually budgeted in — and it's the cheaper route compared with a translator working through long mortgage contracts.
The deposit is real money — and bigger than you think
When your offer is accepted, you leave a caparra confirmatoria — earnest money, traditionally around 10% of the price. This is not a token gesture. People hear "the bank lends 70%" and panic that they need 30% up front; in fact only the 10% is needed at the offer stage, with the balance paid at closing.
Why 10%? Because it has to guarantee both sides and, as Federica says, hurt a little on both. Done properly it's deposited: if the seller walks away, they owe you that sum back and the same again on top; if you walk away without a valid reason, you lose it. It can't be a token amount, or "Zio Luigi" comes along, offers €5,000 more, and you've given notice on your rental for a house that's no longer yours. So plan your cash flow around having that 10% ready early — months before the keys change hands.
Watch the nugget — The 30% deposit myth →
The costs that hide in an older home
A beautiful old house can carry quiet costs it's worth knowing about:
- Systems. Electrics and heating generally only have to meet the norms of their day, not today's — some electrical standards date back decades. A private seller gives no warranty, so if the boiler dies six months after you move in, that's yours. Where certifications are missing, it's noted in the deed and reflected in the price, so factor it in.
- Renovation. Cosmetic things — a kitchen you dislike, tired floors, no air conditioning — are easy, inexpensive fixes and no reason to walk away from a house you love. The ones to think hard about are a new roof, redoing the pipes and systems, or replacing windows (where a shortage of workers and the post-COVID rise in materials can stretch time and cost). And if a place needs its whole layout redistributed, it's usually a sign it isn't your house — the home was built for its own nature, and fighting that tends to mean higher bills later.
Don't forget the costs of getting there
A few more that quietly add up: the codice fiscale (free, but you need it before almost anything); currency exchange, where the spread on a six-figure sum is not trivial; and independent translation or legal advice, which for a purchase this size is rarely wasted money.
A simple way to think about it
Here's the honest rule of thumb: when you see an asking price in Italy, assume your real all-in cost is meaningfully higher once taxes, the agent, the notary and your own advisers are included. Build that cushion in before you make an offer, not after.
A clear, honest cost calculation up front is one of the best protections you have. It stops you falling in love with a price you can't actually meet, and it means nothing at the closing table is a surprise.
A free place to start
If you'd like the shortest possible version of the traps that catch foreign buyers — including the cost ones above — I put the eight most common, and the exact question that catches each one, into a short free guide. Get "The 8 Surprises That Catch Foreign Buyers Off Guard in Italy" here →
And if you'd like the whole journey in detail, with the tools I use myself — including a cost calculator that works all of this out for your specific property, plus the glossary and the checklists — that's my map, Living the Italian Dream. You can meet Federica and me there and see how the whole thing works — and when you'd rather simply have someone carry the weight for you, that's what my partner Federica does.
Sabine De Vito · Infinicity Real Estate
This guide is general information drawn from years of real transactions, not legal or tax advice for your specific purchase. Tax rates, fees and procedures change and vary by region and property type — always confirm the details of your own purchase with a qualified professional.