The Spanish government have been told to rethink their proposed tax on the sale of homes to non-resident/non European Union citizens after it emerged that 60% of Britons who bought property in Spain last year were non-residents – roughly 7,100 transactions.
The Spanish government has proposed a 100 percent sales tax on sales of homes to non-European non-residents with the British being the nationality which would be hit the hardest as they are the principal property buyers in Spain. The move is aimed at cooling the Spanish property market. The Spanish government claims that a large slice of property sales to non-resident are for investment purposes.
Comment by Jason Moore: A silly headline grabbing tax which could have big consequences
The Spanish government could be accused of biting the hand that feeds them. This new tax directly hits the key property buyers in Spain....the British and to a lesser extent the Americans. Sadly for Spain they will just take their money elsewhere, with Portual proving attractive. Spain has scored an own goals and its economy could pay the penalty.
Real estate agents contacted by the Bulletin have called for the government to have a rethink because it will have a big impact on all the important real estate industry in Spain.
Apart from the British, the American market would also be hit. They purchased a record 2,795 properties, and over half of those (54.4%) – just over 1,500 homes – were bought by non-residents.
The top three nationalities buying property in Spain last year were the British (11,912), Moroccans (10,512), and Germans (9,360). Also notable were non-EU citizens not listed individually, who collectively made 16,256 purchases, and EU nationals from unlisted countries, accounting for 9,174 transactions.
They were followed by a long list of EU countries including Romania (8,658), Italy (8,398), France (7,849), the Netherlands (7,436), Belgium (6,242), and Poland (5,947).