Buying property in Salvador and the Bahia coast

Three municipalities in the census

IBGE’s 2022 Census gives: Salvador 2,417,678 residents, 74.2% of homes owned and 21.4% rented; Porto Seguro 168,326 residents, 65.1% owned and 28.2% rented; Mata de São João 42,566 residents, 80.8% owned and 14.0% rented (IBGE, 2022 Census). The low rented share in Mata de São João is worth knowing if you plan a long-term let. Payotte’s pages: Salvador, Mata de São João and Porto Seguro.

Salvador: ITIV

The tax code’s chapter III (articles 114 to 126) says:

• What is taxed: an onerous transfer between living persons of real estate or of real rights over it (except guarantees and easements), and the assignment of rights to acquire it. The tax concerns property located in the municipality.
• Rate (article 118): 1.0% for “popular” property as defined by regulation, 3.0% for other transfers. Decree 24.058/2013 sets popular property as residential with a private built area up to 39.56 m² and an updated valor venal up to R$ 44,996.73. That ceiling is the 2013 figure and Payotte saw no later update, so most purchases are at 3%.
• Base (articles 116 and 117): the valor venal, meaning the cash value in normal market conditions; at a court or administrative auction, the winning bid, unless the city sets another value by an administrative procedure.
• Taxpayer (article 119): the acquirer.
• Payment (article 122): in advance, up to the date the deed or other instrument is drawn. Notaries and registrars must check the taxpayer and property data on the payment slip (article 121). A rule demanding advance payment when a promise-of-sale contract is signed for future delivery has been suspended by the Bahia court since 8 June 2017, per the code’s own note.
• Refund (article 123): if the deed is not made, a court annuls it, an exemption is later recognised or too much was paid.

A calculation, not a quote: a R$ 600,000 purchase at 3% gives R$ 18,000. The city uses the term ITIV, so look for it on the payment slip. Payotte’s purchase costs calculator uses these rates.

Salvador: IPTU

The same code governs the IPTU (articles 60 to 83):

• Taxable event and taxpayer: ownership, domínio útil or possession of urban property; the taxpayer is the owner, the holder of domínio útil or the possessor, and the buyer under a promise of sale answers for it too.
• Base and rate: the valor venal, with rates in a table by value band (Table I). Land that does not meet its social function under the master plan pays one extra percentage point a year, up to five years. Land beyond ten times the built area is taxed at the vacant-land rate.
• Payment: up to 11 instalments, with a single-payment discount of up to 10%.
• Debt follows the property (article 80): the obligation to pay “is transmitted to the buyer” and stays a real burden. Ask the seller for a clearance certificate: see due diligence certificates.
• Exemption (article 83, IX): for property whose valor venal is up to R$ 131,917.16, the figure updated for 2024 and adjustable yearly by inflation. Read the conditions of the article.

General rules are in IPTU.

Mata de São João and Praia do Forte

Mata de São João’s Lei Complementar 006/2022 (of 27 September 2022) calls the tax ITIV, sets 3% and, for onerous transfers in general, uses the valor venal if the tax authority agrees with it; the authority may use current market prices (articles 106 to 108). A later law (LC 007/2022) exempts municipal public servants buying a first home after more than two years’ service. Payotte saw no reduced rate for financed purchases. The city’s IPTU and any coastal or protected-area rules were not read.

Porto Seguro

The rate article of the code Payotte read is internally contradictory (the number printed is “6.00%” while the words say “three per cent”). Payotte does not compute it: get the rate from the city’s finance department in writing. Iphan lists Porto Seguro among the nine urban ensembles in Bahia, besides Salvador, that it has protected, so ask Iphan whether a given building lies in the protected area.

Heritage and the federal coast

Iphan’s Bahia page says that the historic centre of Salvador and the Discovery Coast are recognised by UNESCO, and that Iphan has protected over nine thousand properties as groups in the state. Its Bahia office is at Rua Visconde de Itaparica, 8, Barroquinha, Salvador. For the coast, terrenos de marinha belong to the Union: the SPU office is at Av. Jequitaia, Comércio, Salvador, and its Bahia page has no notice for Porto Seguro or Praia do Forte. See beachfront property and terrenos de marinha and laudêmio and the SPU transfer certificate.

Which professional to consult

A lawyer registered with the OAB can read the matrícula and the certificates; a licensed broker (CRECI) can advise on the area; an engineer or architect can check works near protected areas. See property lawyer and architect and engineer.