CGD has used 89% of its state mortgage guarantee quota for under-35s. The guarantee covers contracts signed by 31 December
The state-owned bank Caixa Geral de Depósitos (CGD) has used 89% of its allocated share of state guarantees on mortgages for buyers under 35 and expects to reach 95% by December. On top of that share, the bank has already been granted a further €95 million. CGD announced this on 5 November, when it reported its results for the first nine months of 2026.
The guarantee applies to contracts signed by 31 December 2026. The government has written an extension into the draft budget for 2027, but parliament is still debating the budget.
Under the scheme, the state acts as guarantor for buyers aged 35 or under who take out a mortgage on their first home. The state covers up to 15% of the price, so the bank can lend up to 100% of the value of a flat or house, as long as it costs no more than €450,000. Since January 2025 CGD has granted more than 15,000 loans with this guarantee, worth €3.1 billion; 7,600 of them, worth €1.7 billion, were granted in 2026. One in three such loans in Portugal comes from CGD (Notícias ao Minuto).
In the first nine months CGD granted €5.8 billion in new mortgages in total — 41% more than a year earlier — and helped 28,000 families buy a home. More than half of the new mortgages went to customers under 35, and more than half of those were taken out without the state guarantee. The average CGD mortgage is around €162,000 (Jornal Económico).
CGD's chief executive, Paulo Macedo, argued for keeping the guarantee: in his view, house prices are rising not because of it but because the country is short of 300,000 flats and houses. On 4 November we wrote about how the draft budget would change the guarantee: "Income ceiling for the state mortgage guarantee for under-35s to rise to €89,995 in 2027 — if the guarantee is extended". Our guide Mortgages in Portugal: what makes up the rate and what a foreigner will be asked for explains what makes up the interest rate and which documents the bank will ask a foreigner for.
