Denmark restricts who may buy property. The rules surprise people who assume that a country open to EU workers is equally open to every foreign buyer. In practice the picture for a resident is easy: if you live here, you can buy. For anyone else, there are conditions.
This guide to buying property in Denmark covers permission, financing, fees and the annual taxes, based on the pages of Civilstyrelsen (the Danish Civil Affairs Agency), Vurderingsportalen and the Ministry of Taxation.
Do foreigners need permission for buying property in Denmark?
The starting point is the Acquisition of Real Property Act. Civilstyrelsen explains who can buy without permission:
- People with a Danish domicile (bopæl). This means your permanent home is in Denmark. Simply living there does not automatically count: it is judged case by case, and the land registration court (Tinglysningsretten) decides in the end, with Civilstyrelsen giving a preliminary view when you apply.
- People who have lived in Denmark for five years or more in total, at any point in their lives. Citizenship does not matter for this rule.
- EU, EEA and Swiss citizens buying a main home. They generally need no permission and file a declaration with the registration court instead.
Everyone else generally needs permission. That includes citizens of non-EU countries buying a main home, and British citizens, who are no longer covered by the EU rules since Brexit unless they have a domicile or five years of residence in Denmark. A permission cannot be general: Civilstyrelsen decides about a specific property, so you must find the home before you apply.
The documents for a main home include proof of lawful residence, a declaration that you will use it as your main home, the purchase agreement and information about any other property you own in Denmark.
What about a summer house?
Secondary homes (sekundærbolig) are the hard category. Permission requires a particularly strong connection to Denmark, shown by a description of your ties, a list of past holiday stays with documents, a passport copy and the address of the property. Our fact sheet cites at least one week of holiday in Denmark every year for the last 25 years as an example of a qualifying link. You can apply for an advance approval to buy a summer house before you have found one.
The same logic explains why a foreigner who buys a main home and then leaves it before reaching five years of residence in Denmark can be ordered to sell it within six months, on pain of a fine.
What is the process for buying property in Denmark, step by step?
- Check whether you need permission, using the list above.
- Take your own adviser. The sale often goes through an estate agent (ejendomsmægler). Ask who the agent works for, and have your own lawyer read the contract before you sign.
- Arrange the finance. A mortgage loan (realkreditlån) from a mortgage credit institution can cover up to 80 per cent of the value of a main home, a bank loan covers the rest, and your own cash covers the down payment.
- Sign the deed and register it in the digital land register (tinglysning), which triggers the registration fee.
- Update your preliminary income assessment for the housing taxes, as described below.
Do not expect a quick process for permission: our fact sheet quotes up to four weeks for a main home and ten for a second home, but the Civilstyrelsen FAQ does not state processing times and says it cannot prioritise individual cases. Plan with margin.
Unsure whether your situation needs permission, a declaration or neither? Moovy can go through the Civilstyrelsen rules with your profile, list the documents to prepare and draft your questions to the estate agent or the lawyer in Danish with an English translation. You decide what to sign and whom to send it to. For anything with a purchase contract, a lawyer should read it.
What does buying cost besides the price?
- Deed registration (tinglysningsafgift): DKK 1,850 plus 0.6 per cent of the price, according to the 2025 consolidated text, which should be reconfirmed for 2026. The base is the sale price, but the public valuation of the property can set a minimum, so ask your lawyer for the exact amount.
- Mortgage registration: DKK 1,825 plus 1.25 per cent of the secured amount from 1 January 2026 (it was 1.45 per cent in 2025).
- Down payment: the Danish Financial Supervisory Authority (Finanstilsynet) considers 5 per cent of the price generally appropriate, but the bank decides case by case and may ask for more. It has also said that demanding a bigger deposit only because you are a foreigner, with no objective reason, is against good practice.
- Agent, lawyer and survey fees: free to set, so compare quotes.
Which annual taxes do owners pay?
Two, both tied to the public valuation of the property, which has two parts: the property value and the land value. The Property Assessment Agency generally reassesses every two years and tells you through Digital Post. In 2026, as in 2025, tax is calculated on a provisional valuation and recalculated when the final one arrives, so expect an adjustment.
- Property value tax (ejendomsværdiskat): 5.1 per mille of 80 per cent of the home's value up to DKK 9,007,000, and 14 per mille above, according to the Ministry of Taxation for 2026.
- Land tax (grundskyld): a municipal rate, capped by law at 30 per mille, on 80 per cent of the land value. In 2026 the rate runs from 3.10 per mille in Frederiksberg to 17.70 per mille in Varde.
Both are collected monthly with your income tax through the preliminary assessment. If you sell without correcting it, you keep paying. Many owners are also registered in a public "freeze" loan (indefrysning) that finances increases in housing tax, and you can decline it.
What if you own a home in Denmark but live elsewhere?
Owning a home does not make you a Danish tax resident. The tax authority says full liability starts when you actually settle in Denmark, and that a purchase alone does not trigger it. But the housing tax is due on the property whoever owns it, under limited tax liability, so a non-resident owner still pays the property value tax. How it interacts with the tax in your country of residence depends on the treaty between Denmark and that country, a topic for a professional.
Retirees may qualify for a reduction. For 2026 the Ministry lists an allowance of DKK 6,000 for a main home and DKK 2,000 for a second home, reduced when income exceeds DKK 239,800 for a single pensioner or DKK 368,800 for a pensioner couple. Special allowances exist for homes bought on or before 1 July 1998.
How do you keep control of the purchase?
Buying property in Denmark is not the place to rely on a single person's word. Keep a simple checklist: the permission or declaration is filed before the deed; the public valuation of the property is in your file; the financing offer is in writing, with the down payment and any extra conditions; the lawyer has read the contract; and your preliminary income assessment is updated the same month. Write down every date, since the Danish system is digital and everything leaves a trace in your Digital Post.
What mistakes do foreign buyers make?
- Assuming buying makes you a Danish tax resident. It does not, unless you actually live there; but owners abroad still pay the housing tax.
- Skipping the declaration for a main home. EU buyers sign it under criminal responsibility, including that it is not a holiday home.
- Treating a cooperative (andelsbolig) like a normal purchase. You buy a share of a cooperative with its own rules, and the Civilstyrelsen rules still apply.
- Forgetting the annual taxes in the budget. See cost of living in Denmark.
- Renting out your Danish home unprepared. Check renting in Denmark for the tenant's rights.
Greenland and the Faroe Islands have their own land rules; see Greenland and the Faroe Islands. And if you are moving from the UK, read moving to Denmark from the UK first.