No. Walloon registration duties depend on the property and the transaction, not on the buyer’s nationality or country of residence. An expatriate pays the same 3% reduced rate on an own and single home since 1 January 2025, or the ordinary 12.5% otherwise (wallonie.be, 2025).
Registration duty in Belgium is a regional tax on the transfer of an immovable located in the region. What triggers the rate is where the property sits and what kind of purchase it is, never the passport of the buyer. A French, German, Luxembourg or non-EU buyer purchasing the same Walloon house pays exactly what a Belgian would.
The current framework is straightforward. Since 1 January 2025, Wallonia applies a reduced registration duty of 3% to the acquisition of an own and single home (habitation propre et unique), down from the ordinary rate of 12.5% (wallonie.be, 2025). The reduced rate is conditional, but the conditions are objective and apply to everyone: the buyer must not already fully own another dwelling, the property must become the main residence with domicile registered within three years for an existing home (five years for land or a home under construction), and it must be kept as the main residence for at least three years (wallonie.be, 2025).
Here is the nuance that matters for expatriates. The condition is not “be a Belgian resident today”, it is “make this your own and single home”. An expatriate who genuinely intends to live in the property and does not own another dwelling can therefore qualify for the 3% rate just like a local buyer. A counter-intuitive consequence: an expatriate keeping a home abroad might fail the single-home test not because of nationality, but because of that other property, so the facts matter more than the passport.
Easyhome checks these conditions with each expatriate client before the compromis de vente, so the rate applied at the deed is the correct one and there are no supplementary duties later.
At a glance
- Rate driver: the property and the transaction, not nationality or residence.
- Reduced rate: 3% on an own and single home since 1 January 2025 (wallonie.be, 2025).
- Ordinary rate: 12.5% where the reduced rate does not apply (wallonie.be, 2025).
- Conditions (apply to all): no other full ownership of a dwelling; main residence with domicile within 3 years (5 for land or new build); keep it 3 years.
- Expatriate risk: a home kept abroad may break the single-home test, not the passport.
- Early check: Easyhome verifies eligibility before the compromis de vente.