Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez proposed a 100% purchase surcharge on properties bought by non-EU, non-resident buyers in January 2025. As of June 2026, the bill has not been debated, has not passed committee, and was absent from the government’s own housing reform package presented in January 2026. For non-EU buyers watching this space, the practical picture is more nuanced than the headlines suggest.
Spain’s 2025 Property Market: Record Sales, Diverging Buyer Groups
Spain recorded over 705,000 total property sales in 2025, a 10.4% increase year-on-year and the highest volume since 2008, according to official property registrar data cited by Idealista. The market’s overall strength, however, masks a meaningful split between buyer groups.
Foreign buyers as a whole accounted for approximately 97,300 transactions — around 13.8% of all purchases and a record in absolute terms. British buyers remained the largest foreign purchasing group, accounting for 8.57% of all foreign purchases in Q4 2025, while Dutch buyers overtook Germans to become the second-largest foreign group in the same period. The average price paid by foreign buyers reached €2,417 per square metre in 2025, up 7.6% year-on-year. Among non-resident foreign buyers specifically, the average exceeded €3,100 per square metre.
The aggregate foreign buyer figure, however, includes EU citizens. When non-EU non-resident buyers — the group the proposed tax would actually target — are isolated, the picture shifts: this segment recorded approximately 51,411 transactions in 2025, down around 10% year-on-year and the lowest figure in four years, according to Bravos Estate analysis. The Golden Visa abolition, macroeconomic conditions, and buyer uncertainty around the proposed tax each contributed to this decline.
Why the 100% Tax Has Not Moved in 15 Months
The bill’s stalling reflects a specific parliamentary arithmetic problem, not simply political inertia. Two legislative blocs are central to the deadlock. Junts, the right-wing Catalan separatist party, opposes the measure on the basis that Spain’s housing shortage is a supply problem, not a foreign demand problem. Podemos, on the far left, considers the proposed surcharge insufficient and has called for a full ban on non-resident purchases. Without both blocs, the Socialist-led minority government cannot reach a parliamentary majority.
Reuters confirmed on March 27, 2026 — citing parliamentary records and a senior government official — that the bill had received zero readings, no committee scrutiny, and no plenary discussion in Congress, despite being announced 15 months earlier. When Sánchez’s government presented a new housing reform package in January 2026, the 100% non-EU property tax was not included. The next general elections are due by August 2027 at the latest. Under current conditions, the bill cannot pass before then.
What the Proposed Tax Would and Would Not Cover
One detail that has received little attention in coverage of this proposal is its structural scope. The proposed 100% surcharge would apply only to resale properties taxed under Spain’s Transfer Tax (ITP). Off-plan and new-build purchases are taxed under a separate mechanism — IVA at 10% and AJD at approximately 1.5% — and are therefore structurally exempt from the surcharge as proposed. Even if the bill were eventually passed in a future parliament, buyers purchasing off-plan or new-build properties would not be subject to it.
The tax is also targeted specifically at those who are neither a resident of Spain nor a citizen of an EU member state. EU nationals and non-EU nationals already residing in Spain would not be covered by the measure as currently drafted.
Spain’s Golden Visa: Closed Since April 2025
Spain’s Golden Visa programme — which previously offered residency in exchange for a minimum property investment of €500,000 — was officially abolished on 3 April 2025. The programme is closed to new applicants. Non-EU buyers who had factored a Spanish residency pathway into their planning should note that this route no longer exists.
The Rental Deduction Ruling: An Opening, With Conditions
A separate tax development in mid-2025 carries practical implications for non-EU property owners already holding Spanish assets. The Spanish National Court (Audiencia Nacional) issued ruling SAN 3630/2025 on 28–29 July 2025, confirming that non-EU property owners who rent out Spanish property may be entitled to deduct rental-related expenses — a right previously available primarily to EU residents. The ruling was confirmed by EY’s tax alert and multiple Spanish law firms.
The position is not straightforward in practice. Hacienda, the Spanish tax authority, has indicated it will continue to dismiss administrative claims until the Supreme Court issues a binding ruling — a process that may take two to three years. Non-EU property owners wishing to claim these deductions should expect to pursue individual appeals and be prepared for a prolonged dispute with the tax authority. This is a court-established opening, not an automatically enforceable right.
Zagdim Analysis
On the EU law tension: Legal advisers have flagged that, should the 100% surcharge ever be passed into law, it would likely face a challenge before the European Court of Justice on free movement of capital grounds under Article 63 TFEU. The situation carries a notable internal contradiction: Spain’s own National Court has been striking down discriminatory tax treatment of non-EU property owners on EU law grounds — as seen in the rental deduction ruling — while the executive simultaneously proposes a new measure that singles out non-EU buyers. Whether a future parliament would risk that legal exposure is an open question.
On the market signal: The decline in non-EU non-resident buyer transactions to a four-year low in 2025 suggests the proposed tax has already exerted some effect on buyer behaviour, even without passing into law. For investors weighing Spain against other markets, the uncertainty itself has been a pricing factor. The overall foreign buyer record masks this divergence — and readers making decisions based on headline figures alone may be working with an incomplete picture.
What This Means for Non-EU Buyers Considering Spain
The practical position as of June 2026 is as follows. The 100% surcharge has stalled and cannot pass under current political conditions. It was dropped from the government’s own January 2026 housing agenda. Even if it were revived in a future parliament, off-plan and new-build properties would be structurally exempt. The Golden Visa closed in April 2025 and is not available. A court ruling has created a possible route to rental deductions for non-EU property owners, but Hacienda is contesting it and individual appeals are currently required. General elections are due by August 2027, after which the policy environment may shift in either direction.
One useful way to look at this is that the proposal has functioned more as a market signal than an imminent legal change — shaping buyer sentiment without yet altering the legal framework. For those with existing Spanish assets or active purchase plans, the details of what the proposal would and would not cover matter more than the headline figure.
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This article is based on officially verified sources current as of 1 June 2026. Tax and immigration requirements change frequently. Always confirm your specific situation with a licensed legal or tax adviser operating in Spain.
