Buying property in Spain

Spain has approved a new set of general guidelines in its Annual Tax and Customs Audit Plan for 2023, known simply as the "Plan de Auditoría Tributaria Española 2023" (Spanish Tax Audit Plan 2023).

The Spanish Statistics Institute's (INE) Population and Housing Survey confirmed that most households own their homes in Spain at 75.2%. This includes fully paid properties (38.1%), properties with outstanding mortgages (26.4%) and inherited or loaned homes (10.7%).

Knowing a property's value is essential when you are ready to buy a home. However, there is not just one value to consider, but two (or even three if the final purchase value is taken into account). The most relevant are the rateable value and the market value.

The Balearic Islands wants to restrict the purchase of homes by non-resident foreigners.

If you buy a property in Spain that is part of a development then you will be obliged to pay what are known as community fees.

Following the pandemic, second homes and holiday homes received a major boost occupying a prominent role in the Spanish housing market, both as a form of investment and for households looking to own another home and benefit from it for much longer.

One more year, the increase of rental prices has pulverised all previous records! Rental prices have soared by two digits over the last year on average in large cities and coastal areas. This consolidates a long standing trend that goes all the way back to 2016.

Finding your dream home in Spain is a tricky business. And when you find it, the problem is that you may coincide with another buyer who is also keen to get their hands on the property.

The Canary Islands have become an ideal destination for people looking for a second home and investment. In fact, the sale and purchase of homes by foreigners accounted for 52% of all transactions in 2022.

If you are looking for a flat for sale in Spain and are open-minded, let us propose an alternative. How about buying yourself an entire Spanish village? A village in the Spanish region of Galicia has just been put up for sale and costs less than a flat in Madrid or Barcelona.

Will property prices fall in Spain in 2023? This is likely to be the case, as house prices in Spain and in most of Europe will experience a correction during 2023 and in some countries also in 2024.

Mortgage interest rates are on the rise, but in spite of this, many people are still choosing to buy property in Spain, as prices start to stabilise going into 2023. If you're renting and you want to own a property then the process is relatively simple.

Foreigners are once again buying homes in Spain en masse following the end of the health pandemic. According to data from notaries, foreigners bought 72,987 homes in the domestic market in the first half of the year 2022, the highest figure in the historical series that began in 2007.

The rental price per square metre per month in Barcelona averages at 21.8 euros, making the Catalan city the most expensive place to rent in Spain. Madrid is the second most expensive with an average of 17.3 euros per square metre per month.

No one has a crystal ball to know exactly what the price of housing will do in the coming years, especially when totally unexpected events occur, such as the pandemic caused by COVID-19, or even the war in Ukraine.

The ECB’s erratic and lacklustre monetary policy, always lagging behind and copying the resolute path set by the US Fed, translates into a weak euro. The US has no qualms to firmly hike the price of money to stave off inflation - unlike in Europe.

In Spain there is a shortage of housing in the rental market, while more and more people are opting for this type of accommodation.

Owning a property can raise many questions, especially if you are doing so in Spain where the system is often different and has its own peculiarities.

Foreigners are buying more and more homes in Spain, so much so that it has been a record summer. According to the Property Registrars in Spain, "foreign demand has registered its highest level in the historical series, reaching the highest amounts, especially in recent quarters.

Foreigners are paying the highest prices in history to buy homes in Spain.

Between January and June 2022, 328,208 home sales and purchases were recorded in Spain, levels not seen since 2008.

The Passive House standard, also known by its German name, Passivhaus, is possibly the world's leading design standard in energy efficient construction. And now, prefabricated passive houses are available in Spain with prices starting from 50,000 euros.

Where is the most expensive property in Spain?

September marks the end of the summer and the start of autumn. Autumn is the high season for property sales.

Each of the 50 Spanish provinces has at least one property for more than one million euros advertised on idealista, the leading real estate marketplace in southern Europe, but the distribution of these properties is not at all consistent.