Spain is set to introduce a 100 per cent tax on foreign home-buyers who are non-EU citizens or don’t already live in the country.
Prime minister Pedro Sánchez has announced a new package of measures aimed at helping “prioritise the availability of housing for residents”.
Among them is a 100 per cent tax that will be levied on those purchasing a property, which will severely impact affordability for non-EU those residing in non-EU countries such as the UK.
Justifying the move, Sánchez said the 27,000 foreigners from outside the EU who purchased homes in Spain in 2023 bought properties “not to live in them, but to speculate”.
He added that house prices are one of Europe’s “main challenges, adding that “average house prices in Europe have risen by 48 per cent in the last decade and it is unbearable.”
The move comes after the Spanish prime minister announced plans to end the so-called ‘golden visa’ scheme in a blow to thousands of British expats.
It is set to end on April 3 this year as part of efforts to prioritise affordable housing for Spaniards.
The scheme currently allows non-EU citizens who invest around half a million euros in Spanish property to live and work there for three years.
The minimum required investment for the visa was €500,000 (£420,000).
Mr Sanchez said last April: “Today, 94 out of every 100 such visas are linked to real estate investment… in major cities like Barcelona, Madrid, Malaga, Alicante, Valencia or Palma de Mallorca that are facing a highly stressed market and where it’s almost impossible to find decent housing for those who already live, work and pay their taxes there.”
The number of Brits officially registered as living in Spain has still increased since the UK left the EU, surging from 276,089 in 2017 to 284,037 in 2023, according to the El Padrón registry.
Related: British expats in disarray as Spain announces plans to scrap ‘golden visa’ scheme