Massive tax hikes for non-EU home buyers vs. incentives for foreign investors: The great debate that has all of Spain talking

Lawyer Isaac Abad, winner of the Best Lawyer Award 2025 for Conveyancing Law, says this proposed tax is similar to policies in Denmark and Canada, "where non-resident buyers face additional taxes to limit foreign investment in the property market".

To see how the measure would work in practice, he gives the example of a British buyer looking to purchase a property in Murcia for 150,000 euros.

At the current tax rate of approximately 10-12%, the buyer would pay around 15,000-18,000 euros in taxes, but under the new proposed tax rate of 100% of the property's value, the buyer would pay an additional 150,000 euros in taxes, bringing the total cost to 300,000 euros.

"This significant increase would make property purchases prohibitively expensive for most non-EU buyers, essentially doubling the cost of buying a home in Spain," he says

However, Abad also points to the fact that the government could be blocked altogether from passing this measure into law by the constitution: "The Constitutional Court requires that taxes be reasonable and not hinder fundamental rights or legitimate economic activities. Such a measure would violate the principles of proportionality and effective access to fundamental rights. The Constitutional Court has previously ruled that a tax is confiscatory when it imposes an excessive burden on the taxpayer's wealth or income."