Countries With No Annual Property Tax: The Honest 2026 List
Published on: August 6, 2026
Last verified: 6 August 2026. Property tax rules are among the fastest-moving in cross-border ownership; Croatia's 2025 change is the freshest example. Confirm the current position before you budget.
Quick answer: The genuinely zero list is short: Monaco, Malta, the Cayman Islands, Turks and Caicos, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman and the Faroe Islands. The UAE, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Georgia, the Seychelles, Israel and Liechtenstein are zero with an asterisk, and Croatia left the list on 1 January 2025 when it introduced a general annual real estate tax. A zero on the annual line never means owning is free: stamp duties of up to 10%, housing fees, service charges and rental taxes do the same fiscal job under other names.
Most "no property tax countries" lists on the internet are partly wrong. Several still include Croatia, which introduced an annual real estate tax in 2025. Others include countries where the tax exists but simply has a threshold, or where a municipal charge does the same job under a different name. This guide separates the countries with genuinely no recurring tax on an owner-occupied home from the ones that only look that way, and explains what you pay instead, because a zero on the annual line never means owning is free.
First, a definition. By "annual property tax" we mean a recurring tax charged on the ownership of residential property, whether calculated on value, size or a flat rate. One-off transfer taxes, stamp duties, rental income taxes and utility-style service charges are different animals, and they are exactly where zero-tax countries make their money.
Countries with genuinely no annual property tax
| Country | Notes |
|---|---|
| Monaco | No annual property tax and no income tax for residents. A 1% duty applies to rental contracts, and registration duties apply on purchase. |
| Malta | No annual property tax anywhere in the country. Some older titles carry a small ground rent (cens), which is a contractual payment, not a tax. |
| Cayman Islands | No property tax, no income tax, no capital gains tax. The government is funded largely through a one-off stamp duty of 7.5% on transfers. |
| Turks and Caicos | No annual property tax. Stamp duty on purchase runs up to roughly 10% depending on value and island. |
| Qatar | No annual property tax on residential ownership. |
| Kuwait | No annual property tax. |
| Oman | No annual property tax; a transfer fee of a few percent applies when you buy. |
| Faroe Islands | No recurring property tax; the islands set their own taxes separately from mainland Denmark. |
That is the true-zero list, and it is shorter than most articles suggest.
Zero with an asterisk
These jurisdictions charge no classic annual property tax, but something recurring can still reach property owners or occupiers. If you see them on a zero-tax list, the list is not wrong, just incomplete.
| Country | The asterisk |
|---|---|
| United Arab Emirates | No annual property tax, but Dubai charges a "housing fee" of 5% of a property's annual rental value, billed monthly through the utility (DEWA) account of the occupant. A one-off 4% transfer fee applies on purchase in Dubai. |
| Bahrain | No property tax, but a municipal levy applies to rented properties, typically collected from tenants. |
| Saudi Arabia | No annual tax on completed homes, but a 5% real estate transaction tax applies on transfers, and an annual White Land levy targets large undeveloped urban plots, with rules significantly tightened in 2025. |
| Georgia | Often listed as zero, and for most people it effectively is: property tax only applies once annual household income exceeds GEL 40,000, and even then rates are set locally between 0.05% and 1%. Owners below the threshold pay nothing. |
| Seychelles | Zero for citizens, but since 2020 foreign owners of residential property pay an annual Immovable Property Tax of 0.25% of market value. For the readers of this site, that asterisk is the whole point. |
| Israel | No ownership-based property tax, but virtually every occupied property pays Arnona, a municipal rate charged to the occupier based on size and location. In practice, someone pays a recurring charge on almost every home. |
| Liechtenstein | No separate real estate tax, but property is counted in the base of the national wealth tax, so owners are taxed on it indirectly. |
| Fiji, Dominica, Cook Islands | Frequently listed as tax-free; in practice, municipal or town rates can apply inside urban boundaries (Fiji, Dominica), and in the Cook Islands foreigners generally cannot own freehold land at all, only long leases. |
Countries that no longer belong on the list
Croatia. The big change. From 1 January 2025, Croatia replaced its old holiday-home tax with a general annual real estate tax (porez na nekretnine) of EUR 0.60 to 8.00 per square meter of usable area per year, with each municipality setting its own rate. Primary residences and homes rented out long term (10 or more months a year, registered with the tax administration) are exempt, so a local family in its own home still pays nothing. But the typical foreign buyer of a coastal second home is squarely inside the tax. Any list still showing Croatia as a no-property-tax country is describing the rules of 2024.
Cambodia. Often listed as zero, but Cambodia charges an annual Tax on Immovable Property of 0.1% on the value above a threshold of KHR 100 million (roughly USD 25,000), which captures most habitable urban property.
China. Sometimes appears on these lists because there is no nationwide recurring residential property tax (long-discussed pilots exist in Shanghai and Chongqing). But foreign buyers face strict purchase restrictions, generally one home for personal use after a period of residence, so the zero is largely theoretical for international owners.
What you pay instead
Governments that skip the annual tax collect elsewhere. Before treating "no property tax" as a savings, price in the substitutes:
- Transfer taxes and stamp duty. Cayman's 7.5% and Turks and Caicos' up-to-10% stamp duties front-load a decade of a typical annual tax into day one. Malta charges 5% stamp duty on purchase; Monaco's registration duties run about 4.5% for direct personal purchases.
- Rental income tax. Owning may be tax-free while renting out is not. Monaco taxes rental contracts; most of the Gulf taxes commercial activity around property even where homes are untaxed.
- Service and community charges. In the UAE and much of the Gulf and Caribbean, annual service charges on apartments and master communities can easily exceed what a modest European property tax would have cost.
- Exit taxes. A country can skip the annual tax and still tax your gain when you sell. The two lists overlap less than you would expect; we map the other side in countries with no capital gains tax on property.
It is also worth knowing that the global trend points the other way. Croatia just added an annual tax, and a growing group of cities tax empty and second homes at punitive rates precisely to push them onto the market, a policy family we cover in second home and empty home taxes.
A quick sanity check for buyers
- Ask what recurring charges attach to this exact property: state tax, municipal rate, community fees, ground rent. The label matters less than the total.
- Check whether your status changes the answer. Seychelles taxes foreigners only; Georgia's tax depends on income; Croatia's exemption depends on residence and rental use.
- Model the full cycle: purchase taxes in, annual charges while holding, taxes on rent, taxes on exit. A zero in one column is often balanced by a bigger number in another.
- Verify the year. As Croatia shows, this is one of the fastest-moving corners of property taxation. Rules cited from a 2023 article can already be wrong.
Frequently asked questions
Which European countries have no annual property tax?
Monaco and Malta are the clear cases, with the Faroe Islands alongside them. Liechtenstein reaches property through its wealth tax instead. Croatia left this group in 2025.
Does Dubai have property tax?
There is no annual property tax in the UAE, but Dubai charges a 4% transfer fee on purchase and a recurring housing fee of 5% of annual rental value through utility bills, plus service charges on most apartments.
Does Croatia have property tax now?
Yes. Since 1 January 2025, an annual real estate tax of EUR 0.60 to 8.00 per m² applies, set by each municipality. Primary residences and long-term rentals are exempt; holiday homes and vacant properties are the main targets.
Is Georgia really property-tax-free?
For most owners, effectively yes: the tax only applies once family income passes GEL 40,000 a year, and rates above that are 0.05% to 1% depending on the municipality.
If a country has no property tax, is owning there cheaper overall?
Not automatically. High purchase stamp duties, service charges and rental income taxes often replace the revenue. Compare the total cost of buying, holding and selling, not one line.
Keep reading on JanusHermes
The annual tax line is one cell in a much bigger cost table, and the countries on this list price their zeros into other columns. JanusHermes aggregates local agency listings across more than 50 countries in 11 languages, with the local agency's contact details on the listing.
For the rest of the cost picture, see how annual property tax works for foreign owners, transfer taxes and stamp duty compared globally, the lifetime tax bill of a property abroad by country, wealth tax on international property and the hidden costs of owning property abroad.
This article is general information, not tax or legal advice. Property tax rules change frequently and can depend on your residence status, the property's use and local decisions. Always confirm the current rules with the national tax authority or a qualified local adviser before buying.
Primary sources: National tax authorities, including Croatia's Porezna uprava (real estate tax, 2025), Georgia's Revenue Service, the Seychelles Revenue Commission and Dubai Land Department guidance; government stamp duty schedules for the Cayman Islands, Turks and Caicos and Malta; Global Property Guide country tax overviews.
Rules stated as of August 2026.
