Furious Brits today spoke out against Spain‘s proposals for a bombshell second home tax that could double the cost of buying a property.
Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez yesterday announced a new package of 12 measures designed to win over residents furious with the lack of available homes.
One contentious proposal – which comes amid a housing crisis and a string of anti-tourist protests – is the introduction of a tax for non-EU citizens buying houses in the country who do not already reside in Spain.
The government suggested levying a tax on non-EU residents, including Brits, by raising the amount paid when purchasing a house to 100 per cent of the value of the property.
Worried Brits said the proposals could force them to call off their relocation plans, while the owners of existing homes feared they would not be able to find a buyer.
Property prices tend to be much lower in Spain, with Rightmove showing a five-bed coastal villa in Andalucía on offer for £400,000 compared to £3.3m for one in Cornwall.
Meanwhile, a three-bed holiday apartment in the Balearics can be snapped up for less than half the price of a similarly sized holiday lodge in Windermere, priced at £849,000.
Kate Spalton, 68, is thinking about selling her two-bedroom holiday home in Cala Blanca, Menorca but is now worried she won’t be able to if non-EU citizens face a massive extra charge.
British second home owner Kate Spalton said she was ‘horrified’ by the proposals
The 68-year-old is thinking about selling her two-bedroom holiday home in Cala Blanca, Menorca but is now worried she won’t be able to
She told MailOnline: ‘I have been holidaying here for 25 years and finally bought my own place eight years ago. As I am nearing 70 I had thought of selling in the next couple of years but with this tax nobody will want to buy.
‘I’m horrified to be honest. Menorca is very much a tourist island and we seem to be getting stymied at every turn. I feel this is really victimising non-EU people when the Balearics also attract a lot of Germans and Spanish second home owners from Madrid.
‘I support the economy by employing local Spaniards to paint my home and do the plumbing, I go to local supermarkets and don’t take anything with me.
‘All that will happen is that I will leave my home empty and eventually in disrepair. That’s not in anyone’s interests. This is a disaster for everyone and British tourism will fall away completely.’
Estate agents warned that the measures – if enacted – would harm the Spanish economy by depriving local businesses of revenue from foreign visitors.
Sean Wooley is a British expat who lives in Marbella and runs Cloud Nine Spain, which sells ‘prestige’ properties to wealthy buyers.
He told MailOnline: ‘Spain needs to be careful what it wishes for, bearing in mind that tourism is it´s number one export, and the country has attracted a huge amount of tax revenue from people who have relocated to Spain for a better quality life.
‘For sure, they need to take care of their own, but they need to be careful that they don´t alienate those foreigners that have helped to create wealth for those everyday Spaniards who are now demanding change.’
Property prices tend to be much lower in Spain, with Rightmove showing a five-bed coastal villa in Andalucía (pictured) on offer for £400,000 compared to £3.3m for one in Cornwall
This seaside property – the Waders – is available to buy in Polzeath, North Cornwall
Meanwhile, a three-bed holiday apartment in the Balearics can be snapped up for around £400,000 – half the price of a similarly sized holiday lodge near Lake Windermere
This holiday lodge in Windermere is priced at £849,000
However, he noted that the policies still needed to go through the Spanish parliament, which would be ‘no easy feat’ given Mr Sánchez lacks a meaningful majority.
This message was echoed by José M. Lopez-Avalos, a solicitor at Málaga Solicitors, who said that ‘for the moment Brits should not worry’.
Dismissing the plans as ‘demagoguery measures that will not sort out the housing problem’, he suggested they would take ‘months if not years’ to come into force, and may never.
He added that it would be better to ‘promote new building, reduce taxation and reduce the bureaucracy of local councils’.
Gomer Evans, a Welsh musician, suggested there were many or half-built holiday properties in Spain that could be converted instead.
‘Housing shortage in Spain? That is nonsense,’ he said. ‘There are literally hundreds of thousands of villa’s and luxury apartments that have been abandoned after being built illegally.’
House-buyers in Spain are currently expected to pay costs and taxes worth between 10 and 12 per cent of the price of the house, depending on where it is.
Mr Sanchez said that the new 100 per cent tariff would help ‘prioritise the availability of housing for residents’.
Sean Wooley, who runs a prestige property agency, said Spain should be ‘careful about it wishes for’
Gomer Evans, a Welsh musician, suggested there were many or half-built holiday properties in Spain that could be converted instead
He shared this photo of empty houses near to where he has a villa in Marbella
He noted that in 2023 alone, non-residents from outside of the EU bought 27,000 houses and flats in Spain, ‘not to live in them, but mainly to speculate’.
He said this was ‘something that, in the context of the shortages we are experiencing, we cannot afford’.
Spain has seen massive demonstrations grow year-on-year, with aggrieved locals decrying the housing shortage while opportunists buy up homes and rent them out to holidaymakers, or leave them vacant for most of the year.
Residency in Spain is open to UK nationals and other non-EU citizens planning to stay longer than 90 days, subject to fees and proof of financial stability.
Sanchez’s radical plan to address the housing crisis was presented yesterday, outlining 12 measures focused on reforming the construction industry, ensuring affordable rentals and offering incentives to those who follow renting guidelines.
This includes transferring land to a new Public Housing Company that the government says it will use to build thousands of new affordable rental houses.
Protesters hold a banner reading ‘Mallorca is not for sale’ at an anti-mass tourism protest on May 25, 2024
Spanish prime minister Pedro Sanchez speaks in Madrid on January 8, 2025
Mr Sanchez said in the first half of this year the company will begin to incorporate more than 30,000 Sareb homes, some 13,000 with immediate effect.
The government also hopes to ‘rehabilitate’ vacant homes for additional ‘affordable rental’, offering incentives to those who renovate flats and make it available for an extended period of time.
It hopes an income tax exemption for owners letting out their homes according to the ‘Reference Price Index’ will encourage a healthier rental ecosystem.
In a bid to ensure Spaniards can access homes before wealthy non-EU citizens, the proposals also include a measure to ‘limit’ the purchase of homes by people who ‘do not reside in our country’.
This is to be tightened with regulations on fraud for seasonal rentals, disincentivising those who illicitly look to make the most of Spain’s lucrative tourist season.
‘The objective with all these measures is clear. What we want is to protect citizens, to find a better balance between tourism and investment, which are two key activities for our economy,’ Mr Sanchez said.
‘And also, logically, access to housing, which is a constitutional right of the people and a legitimate objective of our Government when we say that we want to make it the fifth Pillar of the welfare state.’
Mr Sanchez assured the increased power given to the state to purchase properties and land will be backed by a guarantee ensuring all housing built by the State remains public property indefinitely.
The aim of the ambitious plan is that ‘what is built and rehabilitated with public money will always remain the property of the Spanish people and will not end up in the hands of vulture funds’, he insisted.
