In Wallonia the registration duty on your sole and own home is 3% since 1 January 2025, down from 12.5%. The standard 12.5% rate still applies to a second property or an investment. The buyer pays this regional transfer tax on the purchase value (Wallonie.be, 2025).
Registration duties are the regional tax charged when a property changes hands, calculated on the purchase value and paid by the buyer. Wallonia carried out a major reform: for deeds from 1 January 2025 the rate on a buyer’s sole and own home dropped from 12.5% to a flat 3%, one of the sharpest housing-tax cuts the region has ever made (Wallonie.be, 2025). On a 250,000 euro home that is a difference of over 23,000 euros in tax.
The 3% rate is not automatic; it comes with conditions. You must be a natural person, the property must be your sole home (you cannot already own another dwelling in full ownership, though owning a garage, commercial premises or land is tolerated), and you must register your main residence there within three years for a built property (five for land) and keep it as your home for at least three years (Wallonie.be, 2025). Miss the domicile or holding condition and the tax administration reclaims the difference up to 12.5%. Any purchase that is not your own home, a rental investment or a holiday flat, stays at 12.5%.
A counter-intuitive detail: the reform also scrapped the old cheque-habitat housing subsidy for purchases from 2025, so the upfront saving replaces a later annual benefit (Wallonie.be, 2025). Existing beneficiaries keep their advantage for the remaining years of their loan.
The regional angle matters, because the rules differ across Belgium. Flanders taxes a sole own home at 2% and other property at 12% (Andersen, 2026). Brussels keeps a 12.5% headline rate but grants an abattement of 200,000 euros off the taxable base for a main residence with no other property, worth up to 25,000 euros in savings (Immomakelaarvergelijker, 2026). Always confirm the region where the property sits, not where you live.
At a glance
- Wallonia, sole and own home: 3% since 1 January 2025 (Wallonie.be, 2025).
- Wallonia, second home or investment: 12.5% (Wallonie.be, 2025).
- Conditions for 3%: natural person, sole home, domicile within 3 years (built) or 5 years (land), hold 3 years.
- Cheque-habitat subsidy abolished for purchases from 2025 (Wallonie.be, 2025).
- Flanders: 2% sole own home, 12% otherwise (Andersen, 2026).
- Brussels: 12.5% with a 200,000 euro abattement for a main residence (Immomakelaarvergelijker, 2026).