When political noise takes priority over concrete housing policies, proposals like this tend to surface – in this case, a plan to limit the purchase of residential property in Spain by non-resident, non-EU foreigners. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has announced the government’s intention to impose a tax increase of up to 100% of the property’s value. Yet such a drastic measure would only affect about 2.7% of all property transactions in Spain, based on 2024 data from notaries.
In 2024, property sales in Spain reached 698,381, marking a 12.1% rise compared to 2023. This represents a return to growth after a 10.7% dip in 2023, and even exceeds the boom year of 2022, which saw 697,238 transactions.
Out of all the homes sold this year, 139,102 were bought by foreigners – a year-on-year increase of 5.9%. While still more moderate than the post-pandemic surges in 2021 (44.2%) and 2022 (28.5%), it is a noticeable improvement from 2023, when foreign purchases dropped by 8.5%.
Breaking down the data, foreign residents in Spain accounted for 58.1% of property purchases by foreigners (80,878 homes), with a 7.9% annual increase – a higher growth rate than that of non-resident foreign buyers, which rose by 3.2%.
Meanwhile, non-resident foreigners purchased 58,224 properties (41.9% of the total bought by foreigners). However, the proposed tax wouldn’t apply to all of them – it would only affect non-EU nationals who don’t reside in Spain.
In fact, non-resident, non-EU foreigners accounted for just 18,800 purchases – around one in three (32.3%) of all non-resident foreign transactions. That’s only 13.5% of total foreign purchases and just 2.7% of all property sales in Spain.
EU buyers still outnumber those from outside the EU
Foreign property purchases in Spain are fairly evenly split between EU (51.9%) and non-EU nationals (48.1%), representing 72,130 and 66,972 transactions respectively.
The top three nationalities buying property in Spain last year were the British (11,912), Moroccans (10,512), and Germans (9,360). Also notable were non-EU citizens not listed individually, who collectively made 16,256 purchases, and EU nationals from unlisted countries, accounting for 9,174 transactions.
They were followed by a long list of EU countries including Romania (8,658), Italy (8,398), France (7,849), the Netherlands (7,436), Belgium (6,242), and Poland (5,947).
In theory, British, Moroccan, and other non-EU buyers could be among the most affected by the government’s proposed tax. However, the majority of them are residents in Spain and therefore wouldn’t be subject to it.
The British stand out in particular: around 60% of Britons who bought property in Spain last year were non-residents – roughly 7,100 transactions. By contrast, only about 210 Moroccan buyers were non-residents. A further 3,830 homes were bought by other non-EU, non-resident foreigners not included in the main nationality breakdown.
Among EU nationals who bought property in Spain but are not residents, the most prominent groups were Germans (6,749), Dutch (5,616), Belgians (5,046), and Poles (4,404). Being EU citizens, they would not be affected by the proposed tax either.
Who would be affected?
Among the non-EU nationalities that could face higher taxes if they’re not resident in Spain, Americans stand out. In 2024, they purchased a record 2,795 properties, and over half of those (54.4%) – just over 1,500 homes – were bought by non-residents.
Norwegians also feature, with more than 85% of their Spanish property purchases – just over 1,000 homes – made by non-residents. Ukrainians, however, while buying just over 900 properties, were mostly residents in Spain, with non-residents accounting for only 22% of their purchases.
Latin American buyers have attracted a lot of media attention lately. Their presence in the market has grown, though not enough to surpass the strong showing from European countries. Colombians led the Latin American group with 2,223 property purchases, followed by Argentinians (1,937), Venezuelans (1,689), and Ecuadorians (1,123).
But again, most of these buyers are already residents in Spain. Just 6.6% of Colombian purchases (146) were by non-residents. For Argentinians, it was 15.1% (293); for Venezuelans, 2.8% (48); and for Ecuadorians, also 2.8% (31).
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