Buying your first home in Umbria: 2026 guide

Buying your first home is, for many, the choice of a lifetime: a decision worth approaching calmly and with the right information. This guide walks you through it step by step — from the requirements for first-home tax benefits to purchase taxes, from the State Guarantee Fund to the mortgage interest deduction, all the way to the process leading from the offer to the final deed.

Why Todi and Umbria? Because here, quality of life is measured in villages that have preserved their soul, in hills that change colour with the seasons, and in a property market that is still on a human scale, where a stone farmhouse or an apartment in the historic centre remains a sound investment as well as a daily pleasure. Todi, overlooking the Tiber valley, is the ideal starting point for those seeking authenticity without giving up modern conveniences.

Interspersed throughout the text, you will find several interactive tools to estimate costs, check whether you qualify for the Guarantee Fund, and calculate your mortgage payment: indicative figures, designed to give you an order of magnitude before speaking with your bank and a professional.

The requirements for a first home

First-home benefits are not granted automatically: they are tied to certain conditions that must be met at the time of purchase and in the months that follow. Knowing them in advance helps avoid unpleasant surprises at the deed of sale.

The first requirement concerns residency. You must already reside in the Municipality where the property is located, or transfer your residency there within eighteen months of the purchase. This is a commitment made before the notary and one that must then be honoured in practice: the alternative is having the registered location of your business or place of work in the same Municipality.

The second requirement concerns the nature of the property, which must not be a luxury property. In practice, homes registered in the high-end cadastral categories are excluded from the benefits — A/1 (stately homes), A/8 (villas) and A/9 (castles and buildings of significant historical or artistic value). The vast majority of homes, from apartments to renovated farmhouses, fall instead into the ordinary categories and are eligible for the benefit.

The third requirement concerns your personal situation: you must not already own another home in the same Municipality, and you must not own, anywhere in the national territory, another house purchased in the past with the first-home tax benefits. If you still own your previous first home purchased with these benefits, you generally still have the option of selling it within a set deadline in order not to lose the benefit on the new purchase.

Purchase taxes

How much you pay in taxes when buying a home depends above all on who is selling. The fundamental distinction is between purchasing from a private individual and purchasing from a business (typically a builder).

If you buy from a private individual, the main tax is the registration tax. With the first-home benefits, it applies at a reduced rate and, most importantly, you can request the "price-value" mechanism: the tax is not calculated on the agreed price but on the cadastral value of the property, that is, on the revalued cadastral income. Since the cadastral value is normally much lower than the market price, the savings are substantial. In addition to this, there are the mortgage tax and the cadastral tax, which in this case are due as a fixed amount.

If you buy from a company instead, the transaction is subject to VAT at a reduced rate for the first home, calculated on the sale price; in this case, the registration, mortgage, and cadastral taxes are due in a fixed amount.

A narrative example helps to clarify the ideas. Imagine an apartment for sale by a private individual in Todi at 200,000 euros, with a cadastral income that leads to a cadastral value of around 55,000-60,000 euros. Thanks to the price-value mechanism, the first-home registration tax is calculated on that reduced base and not on the 200,000 euros: we are talking, indicatively, of little more than a thousand euros, to which the mortgage and cadastral taxes in a fixed amount are added. If, instead, you were to purchase the same property from a builder, the first-home VAT would apply to the full price and the order of magnitude would change significantly. These are purely illustrative figures, useful only for understanding the relative weight of the two options.

Warning: exact rates and rules change over time and depend on the specific case. The figures shown here are purely indicative. Always verify the exact amount with a professional (a notary or an accountant) before signing, and remember that granting the mortgage remains the bank's decision.

The First Home Guarantee Fund (Consap)

One of the most concrete obstacles for first-time home buyers is the down payment: banks typically finance up to 80% of the property's value, leaving the buyer responsible for the remaining 20% plus expenses. The First Home Guarantee Fund, managed by Consap on behalf of the State, was created precisely to overcome this hurdle.

The mechanism is simple: the State provides the bank with a public guarantee on a portion of the mortgage. With this guarantee, the bank is more willing to grant financing of up to 100% of the purchase price, thus making it possible to buy even without a substantial down payment. The guarantee is not a contribution you receive directly, but a form of coverage that makes your mortgage less risky in the eyes of the lending institution.

Access is subject to certain requirements, typically including the ISEE value and the nature of the property (non-luxury, intended as a primary residence). Priority categories are provided for — for example, young people, young couples, single-parent families with minor children, and tenants of public housing — for whom the state guarantee can cover a higher share of the mortgage, all other requirements being equal.

Two important clarifications. The first: the measure has an expiration date and is periodically refinanced and updated, so the conditions valid today should always be verified at the time of application. The second: the "under 36" tax exemptions — which in past years eliminated certain taxes for young buyers — expired as of 2025. Today the ordinary first-home regime applies, while the Guarantee Fund remains operational under the rules in force. Here too the golden rule applies: the granting of the mortgage and admission to the guarantee remain decisions of the bank and the managing entities.

The mortgage interest deduction (19%)

Those who purchase their primary residence with a mortgage loan can recover each year, through their income tax return, a portion of the interest paid to the bank. The deduction amounts to 19% of the interest and ancillary charges, and acts as a discount on the IRPEF (personal income tax) due.

The benefit is not unlimited: it applies within a maximum interest cap set by law. In practice, above a certain annual interest threshold, the excess portion is no longer included in the calculation. The advantage is therefore concentrated mainly in the early years of the mortgage, when the interest portion of the instalment is highest.

To keep the deduction, a few details matter: the property must be used as a primary residence within the required timeframe, the mortgage must be intended for the purchase of that home, and payments must be traceable. As with the rest of this guide, the exact amounts and thresholds should be confirmed with a professional when filing your tax return: here you'll find the principle, not the final calculation.

The purchase process step by step

From the property you like to keys in hand, the journey goes through three main stages. Knowing them allows you to move forward with confidence and to know, at every step, exactly what you are signing.

First home purchase guide translation — here it is: The first step is the purchase proposal. It is the document with which, usually through the agency, you formalize your offer to the seller at a certain price and under certain conditions, accompanying it with a small payment by way of deposit. The proposal is generally irrevocable for a defined period: if the seller accepts it within that timeframe, it becomes binding on both parties.

The second step is the "compromesso," that is, the preliminary sale and purchase agreement. Here, all the elements of the deal are set down in black and white — price, timeline, condition of the property, and any conditions such as obtaining a mortgage — and the confirmatory deposit is paid. The preliminary agreement must be registered and, where appropriate, may be recorded in the land registry to protect the buyer. At this stage, it is the right time to have the mortgage application process already underway with the bank.

The third step is the deed of sale (rogito): the notarial act that officially transfers ownership. Before the notary, the price and taxes are settled, the mortgage funds are disbursed, and the final documents are signed. The notary verifies that the property is free of mortgages and encumbrances, guarantees the correctness of the transaction, and handles the registration and transcription formalities. From that moment, the home is yours.