This is how much tax you are going to pay to buy a house in each provincial capital in Spain

When you decide to buy a house, you must remember that, apart from the price agreed with the seller, you will also have to pay a series of taxes associated with the transaction. When buying a used home, the most notable tax is the Property Transfer Tax (ITP by its acronym in Spanish). Each Autonomous Community decides the percentage to be applied to the reference value of the Land Registry unless the purchase price is higher, in which case it will be applied to this purchase price.

With idealista data, we analyse the average market price of a typical two-bedroom house in provincial capitals and calculate the ITP paid in each Autonomous Community to buy a second-hand property.

By provincial capitals, the city where the highest ITP is paid is Barcelona, at €30,216, after applying an autonomous ITP of 10% on the average price of a two-bedroom property, which is €302,164, according to data from idealista in May. 

The Catalan capital is not the city with the most expensive housing prices in Spain, but it does have one of the highest rates for used housing transactions.  

Along with Barcelona, the other Catalan capitals also apply a 10% ITP rate, along with the four Galician capitals and the three Valencian capitals. House prices are more affordable but appear at the top of the ITP rate table. Girona (€18,839), Valencia (€18,471), A Coruña (€17,136), and Alicante (€16,710) are just some examples of where more taxes are paid when buying a used home.

Palma (€355,041) has higher average prices than Barcelona, but with an 8% ITP rate, the tax is lower, at an average of €28,403. 

The most striking contrast is illustrated by San Sebastian (€372,592), as it has the highest average price for a two-bedroom property but one of the lowest ITP rates in Spain, at just 4%. Therefore, the average tax to be applied is €14,904, lower than all the previous ones. 

In Madrid (€263,746), 6% ITP is applied, which leaves taxes on the purchase of a second-hand home at €15,825, lower than the group of capitals with an ITP of 10% and with lower average prices.

Twenty-five capitals are below the €10,000 ITP, some of them standing out, such as Zaragoza (€114,695) or Bilbao (€200,512), where after applying 8% and 4% ITP, respectively, home buyers only have to pay on average around €9,186 and €8,020 each.

Everything you need to know about Property Transfer Tax 

All property transactions are linked to a series of costs not limited to the amount agreed between the buyer and the seller. Both parties have to pay taxes, such as VAT (for new builds), ITP (for used housing) or capital gains tax (for the seller), and expenses, such as the notary or the property deeds. Furthermore, you may need to take out a mortgage, costs which go in tandem with the sale and purchase transaction.

Property Transfer Tax (ITP) is the main tax paid when buying a second-hand property. The buyer or person acquiring the second-hand home must pay this tax, and the amount depends on the transaction value. Each Autonomous Community sets the tax rate applied to that value. 

Since 2021, Spanish Law 11/2021, of July 9, on measures to prevent and combat tax fraud, has been in force. In this law, "the taxable base is modified, replacing the real value by the reference value of the land registry, a concept equal to the market value". This change was to prevent fraud, as some would try to pay less tax when setting the property value. Now, an ITP calculation is applied to the taxable base of a property in 2022, based on the property's market value, specifically the one determined by the General Directorate of Land Registry, without exceeding the amount on the market.