Porto wants to charge ten times more IMI on empty homes in the historic centre from 2027
Porto City Council will propose a tenfold increase in IMI, the municipal property tax, for owners of empty homes (prédios devolutos) in the historic centre as part of its 2027 budget. The mayor, Pedro Duarte, announced the plan on 28 October. The proposal has not yet been put to a vote.
The aim is to get owners to let or sell these homes rather than leave them standing empty. The council has already identified 6,400 homes in the city that appear to be empty and has written to their owners asking them to renovate and put them on the market. Owners who do not respond will have their IMI raised: up to three times across the city, or up to ten times in areas where housing is in especially short supply.
The law already allows the tax to be raised in this way, but the council has to take the decision every year. In 2022 the owners of 379 homes paid the higher IMI, and in 2023 the owners of 531. In 2024 the council took no such decision, and in 2025, when the city's leadership changed, the process was not completed.
For now the increase will apply only to buildings. The mayor promised to look at vacant plots of land later, although there are almost none in the historic centre.
