Debt-to-income ratio (taxa de esforço) for a Portuguese mortgage

For home loans in Portugal only — offers from Portuguese banks, under Portuguese taxes and fees. The banks’ documents will still be in Portuguese; this page explains them in English.

The debt-to-income ratio (taxa de esforço) is the share of your net monthly income that goes to the payments on all your loans, the mortgage and any you already have. The Banco de Portugal recommends it stay under 45%, but the bank does not measure it with the offer’s payment: it uses the interest rate pushed up — by 1.5 percentage points on a term over ten years. So a loan that fits your salary at today’s rate can still be refused: €200,000 over 40 years at the average rate of 3.00% takes 37.7% of a €1,900 net salary, but in the bank’s test it comes to 47.3%, over the limit.

Updated 3 November 2026

How it is worked out

Debt-to-income = the sum of the payments on every loan ÷ net monthly income.

The payments are every borrower’s: the new loan, the car, a personal loan, cards on a repayment plan.
Income is net of tax and social contributions, per year, divided by 12 — so the Portuguese holiday and Christmas pay count. The bank reads it from your last IRS tax return or your latest payslips.
On a joint loan, both borrowers’ incomes and payments are added together.

Everyday spending — rent, bills, school — does not go into the sum. It goes into yours.

The limit and the bank’s test

The Banco de Portugal’s Macroprudential Recommendation 1/2026 (in Portuguese) applies to applications assessed since 1 August 2026. It asks that the ratio stay under 45% (it was 50% before), worked out with the new loan’s payment at a higher rate than the offer’s:

Plus 0.5 percentage points on a term up to 5 years.
Plus 1 percentage points up to 10 years.
Plus 1.5 percentage points over 10 years — nearly every mortgage.
Plus 0.75 percentage points, whatever the term, if any borrower is over 70 when the loan ends — and in that case the bank also counts a lower income for them.

It is a recommendation, but banks almost always follow it: they may exceed the limit on only 10% of what they lend each half-year. Under 35%, at the offer’s rate, is what is usually called comfortable — it leaves room for the Euribor to rise.

Example: €1,900 a month and €200,000 over 40 years

One buyer of 28, with no other loans and €1,900 net a month (the yearly figure divided by 12). They ask for €200,000 over 40 years at the average rate on new loans, 3.00% in August 2026:

At the offer’s rate, the payment is €715.97: 37.7% of income. Within the limit.
In the test, at 4.50%, the payment becomes €899.13: 47.3%. Over 45%.
The most the bank will lend is about €190,000: the loan whose payment, at 4.50%, is 45% of income.
With a €200 car loan payment, the maximum drops to €145,000. Every 100 € of payments you already make takes about €22,000 off what you can borrow.
With a second borrower earning €1,300, the same €200,000 comes to 28.1% in the test.

How to bring the ratio down

Pay off small loans before applying for the mortgage. A car loan near its end still counts at its full payment.
Borrow less: a larger deposit lowers the payment, and the loan-to-value also counts towards the spread.
Add a second borrower with an income. They become as liable for the loan as you are.
Stretch the term as far as your age allows. It lowers the payment but costs more interest overall — and the test uses the term you ask for.

A lower spread helps less than it seems: in the example, a tenth of a point less raises the maximum by about €2,500, while clearing a €200 car loan raises it by €45,000. What weighs most is income, term and your other payments.

Seeing each offer’s ratio

On qualcredito.com, enter the net wages in the scenario and the comparison shows each offer’s debt-to-income ratio, at its own rate and with insurance and charges, and warns when the Banco de Portugal test puts it over the limit.