In January of this year, the Spanish president announced his plans to implement a 100% property tax on property purchases for "foreign non residents" who live outside of the EU. At the time, we took a closer look at the proposal in our blog post, here.
Fast forward to today, and as more data has recently been released, we're revisiting the proposed plan. The more data that is revealed, the more it becomes clear why this plan has not been put into action.
As ever, our most reliable source for all things related to this topic is Spanish Property Insight, who have gathered the most recent data, which has helped us to look into this situation more clearly. So, lets look into things a little deeper...
The most recent Spanish notary figures reveal that the market share of non EU, foreign non residents has slipped, once again, from 2.9% to 2.7%. Meaning there is a very big discrepancy between what is being said by the Spanish president, and what the notary figures actually reveal.
The graph above, by Spanish Property Insight breaks down foreign demand each year over the last six years into non-resident buyers from outside of the EU and all other foreign buyers.
"In this period, Non-EU Foreign Non Resident's accounted for 13.5% of the foreign market, compared to 86.5% for other foreign buyers who would not be affected by the proposed tax."
This 13.5% market share is not an amount that is driving the housing crisis in Spain.
As with the figures from 2023, the data from 2024 reveals much of the same information. The largest groups of foreign non resident buyers, which are the British, American, Swiss and Norwegian, are not competing with Spanish locals for homes within the city.
According to Spanish Property Insight the above figure "breaks down total demand into local buyers, Non-EU Foreign Non Residents, and all other foreign buyers, illustrating how small a share of the market Non-EU Foreign Non Residents represent, with a market share of just 2.7% in the latest period."
In the words of Mark Stucklin of Spanish Property Insight...
"...even if implemented, the (100% tax) policy would do nothing to make housing more affordable. Instead, it would damage local economies in regions like the Costa del Sol, Costa Blanca and Murcia, where foreign holiday-home buyers are vital."
The data speaks for itself.
We endeavour to keep on top of the information as it comes in, and update and inform our customers as soon as we can, with accurate and reliable information. Stay posted for further updates as they come in regarding this proposed tax increase.
In the meantime if you have any questions or queries, please don't hesitate to get in touch here, or call us on 0161 870 2276
*All images, and data in this article have been sourced from Spanish Property Insight.*
