Spain plans to introduce a 100% tax on property purchases for non-EU residents to tackle the housing crisis and make housing more affordable for locals. At the same time, this measure will only apply to those living in the country for less than 183 days a year.. BBC writes about this. As stated by Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, this step is intended to solve the housing crisis, which has worsened due to speculation in the real estate market.. The government’s goal is to make housing more affordable for local residents, because a significant part of real estate is bought by foreigners not for living, but for earning money.

According to official data, in 2023 non-EU residents purchased about 27,000 properties in Spain.

According to Sanchez, such purchases are often purely speculative, which leads to rising housing prices and a worsening situation for the country's citizens.

Today in Spain there are already taxes on the purchase of real estate, which range from 7% to 12% depending on the region and type of transaction. However, the government considers these rates insufficient to combat speculation by non-residents. In this regard, a tax of 100% of the value of real estate was proposed for foreigners from non-EU countries such as the UK or Canada.