Spain to tackle housing crisis with 100% property tax for non-Europeans

Spain plans to impose 100% tax on property bought by non-European Union residents to tackle its worsening housing crisis

The country's warm climate and beaches have made it a popular travel destination and real estate investment hub for Brits and others - factors that have pitted locals against the government in recent years. Now, Spain wants to make it significantly more expensive for people from outside the bloc to buy homes, hoping it will free up more housing for Spaniards.

Key takeaways

• Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez proposed a raft of other measures on Monday, including a tax exemption on affordable housing for landlords and higher taxes on apartments offered to tourists. "The West faces a crucial challenge: not to become a society divided into two classes, the rich landlords and the poor tenants," Sánchez said as he unveiled the plan.
• According to the prime minister, non-EU residents bought about 27,000 homes in 2023 - but these investments weren't made to live in them. "They did it to speculate, to make money with them, which we cannot allow in the context in which we live," he added.
• Sánchez didn't elaborate on when the taxes would take effect if approved by parliament, or how they would be applied.

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