The debt-service limit has dropped to 45%. What that takes away from buyers.

What it is worth in euros

The debt-service ratio is the share of net income that goes to loan payments. Cutting five points off the limit cuts five points of the income available for that calculation.

For a household with 2,500€ net a month, the ceiling moves from 1,250€ to 1,125€. That is 125€ a month, and it is not 125€ saved: it is 125€ of ceiling. Translated into capital, and depending on term and rate, it typically removes tens of thousands of euros from what the bank will lend.

One point almost nobody makes: the payment that counts against this rule is not the one you will pay, it is the one produced by the stress rate above. Anyone running the numbers on the real payment ends up with an optimistic figure.

The change that went unnoticed

The same recommendation changed maximum terms, and for many buyers that weighs as much as the five points. Borrowers aged 35 or under can take up to 40 years; above 35, the maximum term is 35 years.

Term is the most direct lever on the monthly payment, so part of the DSTI tightening is offset for those still inside the younger bracket, and is not offset for those who are not.

The market this lands in

The tightening arrives in a market that had been accelerating. According to INE, house prices rose 17.6% in 2025, the largest annual average change since the index began in 2009. The rise was stronger for existing homes, 18.9%, than for new ones, 14.2%. Some market analysis puts the rise at around 24%; the INE figure is the official index, and it is the one used here.

In the same year 169,812 homes were sold, 8.6% more than in 2024, for a total of 41.2 billion euros. For 2026 the sector expects close to 160,000 transactions, fewer than in 2025: a year of adjustment, not acceleration.

And dependence on credit rose with prices. In 2017-2021, 48% of purchases used a mortgage; in 2024 it was 52%; in 2025, 56%. More than half the market now passes through the rule that has just tightened.

In short: less borrowing capacity, against prices that rose nearly 18% in a year, in a market where more than half of purchases depend on the bank. It is that scissor the buyer feels, not either half on its own.

Where purchases stall

A study by UCI with SPIRITUC, surveying 733 professionals registered with the Bank of Portugal, gives the measure of time: between first contact and the deed, 31 to 60 days for 55.3% of respondents, and 61 to 90 days for 38.1%. Together, more than nine in ten purchases take between one and three months.

And when a purchase does NOT reach the deed, the main cause cited is the operation being unviable, named by 41.9% of professionals. The second is the client not finding a property, at 29.2%.

This one is worth reading carefully, because it circulates badly misread: the study does not say 42% of operations fail. It says that among those that do, unviability is the most cited reason.

What this changes in the work

With less slack at every step, the cost of a mistake rises. An offer made before capacity has been confirmed against the stress rate, a preliminary contract signed with deadlines the bank cannot meet, or a property whose valuation comes in below the price, stop being setbacks and become lost purchases.

We guide every buyer through eight stages, from intake and qualification to after-sales, and it is in the stages between viewing and signing that most purchases stall. We represent the buyer only, from the first conversation to the deed, at no cost to the client.