Spain foresees a 100% tax for homes acquired by non-EU citizens

Spain plans to impose a tax of up to 100% on properties bought by non-residents of countries outside the EU, such as the United Kingdom.

When announcing the measure, the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, said that the “unprecedented” measure was necessary to address the country’s real estate emergency.

“The West faces a decisive challenge: not to become a society divided into two classes, the rich landowners and the poor tenants,” he said.

Non-EU residents bought 27,000 properties in Spain in 2023, he told an economic forum in Madrid, “not to live in” but “to make money from them.”

“Which, in the context of shortages in which we find ourselves, we obviously cannot allow,” he added.

Therefore, the measure aims to “prioritize that the available housing is for residents,” he stated.

Sánchez did not provide details on how the tax would work or a timeline for presenting it to parliament for approval, where he has often struggled to gather enough votes to pass the legislation.

But his government said the proposal would be finalized “after careful study.”

It is one of a dozen planned measures announced by the prime minister on Monday aimed at improving housing affordability in the country.

Other measures announced include a tax exemption for landlords providing affordable housing, the transfer of more than 3,000 homes to a new public housing body and stricter regulation and higher taxes on tourist flats.

“It is not fair that those who have three, four or five apartments for short-term rental pay less taxes than hotels,” he said.