Renovation Cost per Square Metre by Country: What Doing Up a Home Actually Costs in 2026

Published on: August 17, 2026

Last verified: 17 August 2026. Ranges are market benchmarks for early budgeting from the named trade sources, not quotes.

Quick answer: For a full gut renovation of an ordinary home, most Western European markets fall between roughly 800 and 1,800 euros per square metre all-in, with the UK and capital cities above that and southern and rural regions below. The published spread is wide mainly because sources mix labour-only with all-in figures and different scope tiers, so establish the tier first. Two things move the real bill more than the headline rate: reduced VAT on renovation (10% in Spain and Italy, reduced rates in France) and tax relief, where Italy's Bonus Ristrutturazione at 36% for a second home is a deduction against Italian income tax that a non-resident owner often has nothing to deduct it from. Budget 20% to 25% contingency on an old building abroad.

Every cheap-house story in Europe ends at the same question. The one-euro house in Sicily, the abandoned farmhouse in the Dordogne, the akiya in rural Japan, the granite village house in inland Sardinia: the purchase price is a rounding error and the renovation is the actual transaction.

The problem is that renovation cost per square metre is not one number. Published figures for the same country range by a factor of five, and almost none of them state what they include. This page fixes that by defining the scope tiers first, then giving benchmark ranges against those tiers, then covering the three things that move the real bill more than the headline rate: VAT treatment, tax relief, and whether a foreign owner can actually claim it.

First, define the tier. Otherwise the numbers are meaningless.

Nearly all cross-country confusion resolves once you separate these four levels of work.

A quoted 600 euros per square metre that turns out to be Tier 2 labour-only against your assumption of Tier 3 all-in is the single most common budgeting failure in cross-border renovation.

Three questions to ask of any figure before you use it:

1. Labour only, or labour plus materials? Several national price guides quote labour and add materials at 45% to 60% on top. Others quote all-in.
2. VAT included? In the UK, professional quotes are routinely ex-VAT. In Southern Europe, headline figures usually include the reduced rate.
3. Which floor area? Gross internal, net internal, or the country's own legal measure. See built versus usable area on a foreign listing.

Benchmark ranges by country

All figures are all-in (labour and materials), for a full Tier 3 renovation of an apartment or house of ordinary size and condition, unless noted. They are market benchmarks for early budgeting, not quotes. The variance within each country between the capital and the regions is routinely 25% to 40%, and in several countries that internal spread is wider than the gap between countries.

Why Spain's published range is so wide is instructive and applies everywhere: some Spanish guides quote labour only, with materials adding 45% to 60% on top. A 400 euro per square metre labour-only figure and a 900 euro all-in figure can describe the same project. Always establish which you are reading.

A reliable cross-country pattern: building services (electrical, plumbing, heating) account for roughly 35% to 40% of a full renovation cost almost everywhere, and labour accounts for 40% to 55% of the total in high-wage markets. That is why the country-to-country spread tracks wage levels more closely than material prices, which are increasingly globally traded.

The part that changes the real bill: VAT and tax relief

Two countries with identical headline rates can produce net costs 30% apart. This section is where the money actually is, and it is the part cheap-house articles never cover.

Reduced VAT on renovation

Several EU states apply a reduced VAT rate to renovation of existing dwellings, which is a direct and often overlooked saving.

• Spain: the standard rate is 21%, but 10% applies to renovation and repair of private dwellings where the property is more than two years old and materials do not exceed 40% of the invoice total (Article 91 of the Spanish VAT Law). On a 50,000 euro job, the difference between 10% and 21% is 5,500 euros. Make sure your contractor invoices correctly and check the materials share.
• Italy: 10% reduced VAT applies to renovation works, including on second homes.
• France: reduced rates apply to works on dwellings completed more than two years ago, with the applicable rate depending on the nature of the works, particularly energy-efficiency work.

The condition attached to the reduced rate is usually about the age of the property and the labour-to-materials ratio, not about your residency. Ask about it explicitly.

Renovation tax relief, and the trap for foreign owners

Italy offers the most generous headline relief in Europe, and also the clearest trap.

For 2026, the Bonus Ristrutturazione is confirmed at 50% for a principal residence and 36% for other properties, on a ceiling of 96,000 euros per property unit, recovered as a deduction against Italian income tax (IRPEF) in ten annual instalments. A separate bonus covers furniture and appliances, and enhanced rates exist for accessibility and seismic works.

Here is what almost nobody tells foreign buyers: it is a deduction against Italian income tax, not a grant. A non-resident who owns an Italian second home and has little or no Italian taxable income has nothing to deduct it from, and the credit can go substantially unused. Before you build a 36% recovery into your budget, establish with an Italian accountant whether you will actually have the IRPEF liability to absorb it, over ten years.

The 50% versus 36% distinction matters too. A foreign second-home owner is in the 36% band by definition, not the 50% one.

Elsewhere:

• France operates energy-renovation subsidy schemes with income and residency conditions that generally exclude non-resident second-home owners from the main grants, though reduced VAT still applies.
• Belgium (Flanders) withdrew its main renovation grants for middle and higher income categories from 1 January 2026, while keeping the renovation obligation in force. Worth knowing if you are buying there: the stick remains, most of the carrot has gone.
• Spain operates energy-renovation aid through regional programmes and the recovery funds, with conditions that vary by autonomous community.

The wider grant landscape is mapped in renovation grants and green subsidies for foreign owners.

The four things that blow the budget

Across every market, the same items turn a benchmark estimate into a real one.

1. Starting condition, not floor area. A house that has never been renovated, with original services, is a different project from one refreshed twenty years ago. Italian trade guides add a substantial premium for pre-1970s untouched stock; Spanish guides add roughly 25% for pre-1980. If the property has been empty for years, add damp, pests and services replacement as a certainty rather than a risk. See damp, mould, termites and woodworm in overseas homes.

2. Compliance work you did not plan. This is the foreign buyer's blind spot. Bringing electrics, gas and drainage to current code, obtaining certificates, meeting seismic requirements in Italian zones, satisfying a Flemish renovation obligation, or resolving a planning non-conformity before works can be permitted. None of it improves the house and all of it is compulsory.

3. Heritage and landscape constraint. In a protected building or zone, the approvals process adds months and the permitted specification is dictated to you. Hand-made replacement windows to a heritage profile cost several times standard units.

4. Logistics. Island and rural projects carry a real premium: contractor scarcity, travel time, seasonal availability, material transport. Coastal Sardinia, the Greek islands and rural Japan all run well above their national benchmarks for this reason alone, and the constraint is often scheduling rather than price.

Contingency: 10% is the standard advice for a known property in a familiar market. For an old building abroad, in a language you do not speak, that you cannot visit weekly, 20% to 25% is realistic and 30% is not paranoid. Managing the works from another country is its own discipline, covered in renovating a property abroad remotely.

Applying this to the cheap-house markets

One-euro houses (Italy). Municipal schemes across Italy, including Sardinian comuni such as Ollolai and Nulvi, impose binding renovation commitments and deadlines, usually with a deposit at risk. At Italian Tier 3 rates, a 120 square metre village house is a 95,000 to 145,000 euro project before compliance work. The realistic all-in spend is tens of thousands of euros minimum, and frequently six figures. The house is free; the project is not. See the one-euro homes guide.

Akiya (Japan). Japan's abandoned-house stock is cheap because Japanese residential buildings depreciate to near-zero value over roughly 20 to 30 years and the market prices land, not structures. That accounting reality means the renovation is not restoring value the way it would in Europe: you are buying a plot with a liability on it and paying to make the liability habitable. Add earthquake-resistance upgrading for pre-1981 construction, which is the pivotal date in the Japanese building code. See the akiya guide.

Rural France. Tier 3 at 800 to 1,500 euros per square metre on a stone longere of 180 square metres is 145,000 to 270,000 euros. Reduced VAT helps; the main energy grants generally do not reach non-resident second-home owners. See rural France.

Inland Sardinia and rural Spain. The lowest entry prices in Western Europe and the highest logistics premium. The purchase price is often less than a third of the total. See the Sardinia guide.

The general rule that holds everywhere: in any market where property is cheap because of depopulation, renovation cost is set by regional wage levels and material logistics, not by property values. Cheap houses do not come with cheap builders. That inversion is precisely why so many of these projects stall half-finished.

Frequently asked questions

What is a realistic all-in figure for a full renovation in Europe?
For a Tier 3 gut renovation of an ordinary apartment or house, most Western European markets fall between 800 and 1,800 euros per square metre all-in, with the UK and capital cities above that and southern and rural regions below. Structural work moves you into a different band entirely.

Is it cheaper to renovate than to build new?
Usually yes, because foundations and structure are retained, and UK trade sources put new build around 2,600 pounds per square metre all-in on BCIS data against typical refurbishment rates below that. But a heavy structural renovation of a very poor building can exceed new build, and in that case the emotional and heritage arguments are doing the work, not the financial ones. Compare with the cost to build a house abroad.

How much does renovation add to value?
Italian trade sources put a quality full renovation at 25% to 35% over the as-is value in a location with real demand, and an energy-label jump from G to C at 20% to 35%. Both assume genuine local demand. In a depopulating village, renovation can cost more than the finished house is worth, and frequently does. Check comparable sold prices for renovated properties in the same village before you start, and see which renovations add value abroad.

Do energy upgrades pay for themselves?
On the Italian worked example commonly cited, external insulation costing 15,000 euros and saving 1,200 euros a year pays back in roughly twelve years, falling to six or seven with tax relief applied. In markets with letting bans tied to energy labels, such as France and Flanders, the calculation is different again: the works are not an investment choice but a condition of being allowed to let at all.

Should I get quotes before buying?
Yes, always, and before the binding contract stage rather than after. In every market covered here, the preliminary contract stage is where you still have leverage and the deposit is still recoverable through a condition. Budget a few hundred euros for a surveyor, geometra or architect to walk the property with you. It is the highest-return spend in the entire project.

Keep reading on JanusHermes

In cheap-house markets the renovation is the transaction, and it is priced by local wages rather than by local property values. 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 build-from-scratch comparison, see cost to build a house abroad per square metre and buying a building plot abroad. On the works themselves, read renovating remotely, roof, rewiring and hiring a builder abroad and structural defect insurance. For the energy-label pressure driving much of this, see energy performance certificates.

This article is general information compiled from the named trade and tax sources, not construction, tax or investment advice, and it creates no advisory relationship. The ranges are early-budgeting benchmarks with national internal variation of 25% to 40%; they are not quotes and no property should be bought on them. Construction cost inflation has been the fastest-moving variable in this dataset since 2022, and VAT rules and renovation relief change with each national budget. Get written quotes from local contractors and confirm your tax position with an accountant in the relevant country before committing.

Primary sources: United Kingdom, trade cost guides and quantity-surveying benchmarks for 2026, London architectural practice cost advice (ex-VAT) and BCIS new-build benchmarks; France, French estate agency and renovation trade estimates for 2026; Italy, Italian renovation trade price guides and calculators 2026, Agenzia delle Entrate on Bonus Ristrutturazione rates, the 96,000 euro ceiling and the ten-year deduction, and ENEA for energy-efficiency filings; Spain, Spanish reforma integral price guides 2026 and Article 91 of the Spanish VAT Law on the 10% reduced rate; Belgium, the Flemish government and VEKA on the withdrawal of Mijn VerbouwPremie for middle and higher income categories from 1 January 2026.

Figures as published; latest available as of August 2026.