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Houses along a hillside on the outskirts of Marbella on the sunny coast, Costa del Sol, Spain.
Marco Lindstrom | Stock | fake images
Spain plans to impose a 100% tax on homes bought by non-EU residents as it seeks to address a deep-rooted housing crisis in the country.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez on Monday proposed a package of measures aimed at alleviating housing shortages, high rents and rising home prices across the country, where foreign home buyers and Mass tourism contributes to real estate pressures.
In a forum on the subject, socialist leader Sánchez stated that access to housing was one of the main challenges facing Spanish society and that there was a risk of division between communities.
“The West faces a decisive challenge: not to become a society divided into two classes, that of rich homeowners and that of poor renters,” he said, noting that housing prices in Europe have increased by 48% in the last decade, almost double. as household income.
“We are facing a serious problem, with enormous social and economic implications, that requires a determined response from society as a whole, with public institutions at the forefront,” he stated, according to comments published by the government.
The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, speaks during the forum “Housing, fifth pillar of the Welfare State”, organized by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Agenda, at the Railway Museum, on January 13, 2025 in Madrid, Spain . During the event, the President of the Government made a new announcement on housing and highlighted access to housing as a key issue within the legislature, amid the escalation of real estate prices, especially in large cities.
Europa Press News | Europe Press | fake images
Announcing 12 reforms designed to address the crisis, Sánchez said the government’s proposals include a plan to ensure tourist apartments are taxed “like a business” and a proposal to impose a 100% tax on the value of homes purchased by non-EU residents.
Such changes, he said, would help make housing more accessible and affordable throughout Spain.
“Non-residents of the European Union bought 27,000 apartments in Spain (in 2023). They did not do it to live, but to speculate, to make money with them, something that in the context of scarcity we cannot afford,” Sánchez told the Forum “Housing, fifth pillar of the welfare state” in Madrid on Monday afternoon, in comments reported by El Periódico and translated by Google.
“The progressive coalition government has always embraced foreign investment, but we want it to be productive, encourage innovation and create new jobs, and not serve for speculation, as if it were a financial asset or a bank deposit,” he added.
Spain, holiday homes, taxes
Westend61 | Westend61 | fake images
Other measures introduced by Sánchezled by the leftist Spanish Socialist Workers Party and a coalition government that includes the far-left Sumar party, included plans to provide tax breaks to landlords by offering affordable rents and more protection for existing tenants.
He announced plans to build more public housing and ensure existing social housing remains state property. A program will also be launched to renovate empty homes and rent them out at affordable prices, he said.
The prime minister did not provide further details on how the tax on non-EU homebuyers would work or give any indication of when such proposals could be submitted to parliament for approval.
The Government had already expressed its intention to try to limit home ownership by foreigners, announcing last year that it would abolish the “Golden Visa” program, introduced in 2013, which granted residency rights to foreigners investing in Spanish real estate. worth at least 500,000 euros. (about $513,000).
The housing shortage and rising prices (and a strong perception that home and holiday rental owners are exacerbating the problem) have sparked a strong public reaction in Spain, as well as unrest in tourist hotspots on the south coast, the Canary Islands and in cities like Barcelona and Alicante.
A tourist photographs a message in Park Güell. Anti-tourism organizers have called for a 50% reduction in daily ticket sales to the site, one of Barcelona’s main tourist attractions.
José Lago | afp | fake images
Reports of Tourists are told to “go home” and incidents have emerged where foreign visitors have been pelted with water guns and locals have urged authorities to tackle what they see as “overtourism”.
However, the Spanish economy depends on tourism to drive growth and employment, with the sector accounting for more than 13% of GDP. and around three million jobs. In the first 11 months of 2024, the number of international tourists arriving in Spain reached its highest historical figure, exceeding 88.5 million, according to data from the country’s statistics agency. INE.
“Not only is tourism driving consumer spending, but high accommodation occupancy rates are also driving record investments in hotels,” Maartje Wijffelaars, senior eurozone economist at Rabobank said in analysis last September.
“We anticipate that GDP growth in Spain will soften somewhat in the future, as growth in the tourism sector is expected to lose some strength. But growth is expected to remain strong and higher than in the eurozone in the coming years. coming quarters and years, reaching 2.7% (in 2024), 1.9% in 2025 and 1.5% in 2026,” he said.
