2026 guide for foreign buyers

Buying a House in Spain as a Foreigner in 2026

From your NIE to the Land Registry: the 7 steps, the taxes region by region, and what changes when you don’t live in Spain.

Your NIE: written into the deed, or no registration
Purchase tax: 6% in Madrid, up to 13% in Catalonia, on a resale
Golden visa: ended on 3 April 2025

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Updated 27 October 2026 · By Brenda Lins Brito

Whitewashed houses, palm trees and blue flowerpots on a small square in Vejer de la Frontera, Spain

Sea view over tiled roofs from a wrought-iron balcony in Altea, on the Costa Blanca

Buying a house in Spain as a foreigner is open to everyone: Spain has no general restriction on foreign buyers, whether you live there or not. What you need first is a NIE, your foreigner’s number: it is written into the deed, and the Land Registry won’t register a purchase without it.

On top of the price, you pay a purchase tax set by each region, from 6% to 13% on a resale home, and a few hundred euros each for the notary and the Land Registry. This guide takes you through the 7 steps, the costs region by region, and the taxes you pay as an owner who lives abroad.

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Table of contents12

Buying in Spain in 6 numbers
Are you ready to buy?
Can foreigners buy property in Spain?
Why you need a NIE
How to buy a house in 7 steps
Taxes by region
What to check before you sign
Mortgages for non-residents
Buying from abroad
Islands and border towns
Taxes as an owner
Frequently asked questions

Buying a home in Spain in 6 numbers (2026)

€9.84the police fee for your NIE, in Spain
6%–13%purchase tax on a resale home, by region and price
10%VAT on a new home, plus stamp duty
10 dayswith your binding mortgage offer before you sign
19% / 24%non-residents’ yearly tax on a home they don’t rent out
3%of the price, kept back when you buy from a non-resident

Are you ready to buy a house in Spain? The 30-second check

You have a NIE, or you have applied for one: it goes into the deed.
You have the price, plus the purchase tax: 6% to 13% on a resale home, depending on the region, and a few hundred euros each for the notary and the Land Registry.
Someone independent checks the property: who owns it, its charges, its debts and its licences.
You can sign in Spain, or you have given someone a power of attorney.
Not an EU citizen, and buying on an island or near a border? You have checked whether you need a military authorisation.

Yes to all five? You are ready to make an offer.

Planning to live in Spain, not just to own a home there? Buying gives you no residence permit: look at the non-lucrative visa or the digital nomad visa. A doubt? Ask us in a free call.

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Can foreigners buy property in Spain?

Yes. In 2026 Spain has no general restriction on foreign buyers: EU citizens and everyone else, residents and non-residents, buy on the same terms as the Spanish, and the purchase tax doesn’t depend on your nationality. The one rule based on nationality is old and narrow: non-EU buyers need a military authorisation in some zones, the islands and the border towns among them.

What happened to the 100% tax on foreign buyers?

The government announced it in January 2025: a tax of up to 100% of the price for buyers from outside the EU who don’t live in Spain. It was tabled in Parliament in May 2025 as a bill from the governing party’s group, never debated, and it lapsed on 6 October 2026, when Parliament was dissolved for the election of 29 November. A new parliament would have to start again from scratch.

Does buying a house give you residency?

No longer. Spain’s golden visa, which gave residence for a €500,000 property, ended on 3 April 2025 for new applications; permits already granted keep their rules. To live in Spain, you need a residence permit of its own: the non-lucrative visa if you live on your pension or savings, the digital nomad visa if you work remotely. EU citizens simply register: see our guide to becoming a legal resident in Spain.

White apartment building with balconies and palm trees in Marbella, Spain

Why you need a NIE to buy property in Spain

A Spanish deed states the tax number of everyone who signs it, and a foreigner’s tax number is the NIE, the número de identidad de extranjero. Without it, the notary has to report the missing number to the tax agency, and the Land Registry refuses to register the purchase until a new deed states it. Get your NIE before you sign the arras contract, so that the date of the deed never has to wait for it.

How to get a NIE

In Spain, in person at a police station or a foreigners’ office, with the EX-15 form and the receipt of the 790 code 012 fee (€9.84 in 2026). The regulation gives the police 5 days to decide.
From abroad, at a Spanish consulate, which charges its own fee: £8.65 in London, $12 in New York. London says the NIE is normally issued within three weeks, New York within five.
Through a representative with a power of attorney, which consulates and the government’s investor platform accept.

Our guides to the NIE number and to the EX-15 form go through each route. Or let us do it: we get your NIE online, from abroad, and attend the appointment for you.

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How to buy a house in Spain in 7 steps

From your NIE to the Land Registry: what to do at each step, and what it costs.

1
Get your NIE
Your foreigner’s number goes into the deed, and the Land Registry won’t register your purchase without it. Get it before you make an offer: in Spain, at a consulate, or through a representative.
With us: from €199From 48 hours
Get my NIE
2
Open a Spanish bank account
No law requires one: Spanish town halls and utilities have to accept a euro account from another EU country. But a Spanish account is the simple way to get the bank cheque you hand over at the notary, a Spanish mortgage, and the bills of a home you don’t live in all year.
With us: €659No travel required
Open my account
3
Set your budget
The price, plus the purchase tax of the region (6% to 13% on a resale home, 10% VAT and stamp duty on a new one), plus the notary, the Land Registry and whoever files the tax for you. Borrowing? The bank must give you its binding offer at least 10 days before you sign.
Taxes: by region
See the taxes by region Calculate my mortgage
4
Reserve the property and check it
A reservation, a short private agreement the law gives no rules of its own, takes the home off the market. Use that time to check who owns it and what it is charged with (the nota simple from the Land Registry), its community and IBI debts, its energy certificate and, depending on the region, its habitability certificate.
Nota simple: a few euros
What to check
5
Sign the arras contract
The private contract that fixes the price and the date of the deed, against a deposit, often 10% of the price. If it says the arras are penitenciales, you can walk away by losing the deposit, and the seller by paying it back twice.
Deposit: often 10%
Ask us in a free call
6
Sign the deed at the notary
You sign the escritura, pay the balance and become the owner. The deed records how you paid: for a bank cheque, the account the money came from; for a transfer, both accounts. Can’t be there? Someone signs for you with a power of attorney.
Notary: about €388 at €300,000, plus VAT
7
Pay the tax and register
File and pay the purchase tax within your region’s deadline, from one month to two, then register the deed at the Land Registry: registration is what protects you against anyone else’s claim, and the Registry won’t register it before the tax is paid or filed.
Land Registry: about €205 at €300,000, plus VAT

How much does it cost to buy a house in Spain?

Most of the cost is the purchase tax, set by the region where the home is (the table below). The notary and the Land Registry charge by national scales that grow slowly with the price:

Price of the home	Notary	Land Registry
€150,000	about €317	about €163
€300,000	about €388	about €205
€500,000	about €483	about €262

These are the scales’ amounts for the sale, with their 5% rebate, before the deed’s extra pages, the copies and 21% VAT. By law the seller pays for the deed and the buyer for its copies, unless the contract says otherwise, and many contracts put all of it on the buyer. Add your lawyer’s and the gestoría’s fees, which no scale sets, and the valuation if you borrow. Buyers often budget 10 to 15% on top of the price: no official figure exists, and most of it is the tax.

Before the offeryour NIE, a bank account, your budget
Reservationthe home off the market while you check it
Arrasthe deposit and the date of the deed
Deedyou pay and become the owner
1 to 2 monthsto pay the purchase tax, by region
Registrationyour title protected against anyone else

Buying from a seller who doesn’t live in Spain

Then you keep back 3% of the price and pay it to the tax agency within a month (form 211), and you pay the seller’s plusvalía municipal, the town hall’s tax on the land’s gain, in their place. Unpaid, the 3% stays a charge on the home. Both are usually taken off the price at the notary.

Taxes when buying property in Spain, region by region

A resale home pays the transfer tax (ITP) to the region where it stands. A new home bought from the developer pays 10% VAT instead (7% IGIC in the Canary Islands), plus a stamp duty (AJD) on the deed. The tax is worked out on the price, or on the Catastro’s reference value for the home when that is higher.

Region	Resale home (ITP)	New home (AJD)
Andalusia	7%	1.2%
Valencia region	9%, 11% over €1 million	1.4%
Catalonia	10% to 13%, by price	1.5%
Madrid	6%	0.75% over €180,000
Balearic Islands	8% to 13%, by price	1.5%, 2% from €1 million
Canary Islands	6.5%	1%
Murcia	7.75%	1.5%

The general rates in force in October 2026. Valencia’s changed on 1 June 2026; Catalonia’s scale runs from 10% up to €600,000 to 13% over €1.5 million, and large owners pay 20%; the Balearic scale runs from 8% up to €400,000 to 13% over €2 million. Each region’s reduced rates are for a main home, often under a price cap: a holiday home pays the general rate.

The deadline to file and pay is the region’s: two months in Andalusia, one month in Valencia, Catalonia, the Balearic and the Canary Islands, 30 working days in Madrid and Murcia.

Cost estimator

How much will your purchase cost?

The purchase tax, the notary and the Land Registry for your price and your region, and the cash you need on the day you sign.

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Example: a resale home at €300,000 in Andalusia

Purchase tax (ITP)7% of €300,000	€21,000
Notary, for the deedNational scale, with 21% VAT; extra pages and copies on top	€469
Land RegistryNational scale, with 21% VAT	€249
Total on top of the price7.2% of the price	€21,718

By law the seller pays for the deed and the buyer for its copies, unless the contract says otherwise, and many contracts put all of it on the buyer.

Pay the tax within two months, counted from the day after the deed (Andalusia).

Not included

Your lawyer, and a gestoría if you use one: their fees are agreed freely, no scale sets them.
If you borrow, the bank’s valuation of the home. The mortgage’s own notary, registration and stamp duty are the bank’s, by law.

Step 1: your NIE

The notary needs your NIE, Spain’s number for foreigners, to sign the deed. We get it for you, even from abroad.

Get my NIE

Not covered: reduced rates for a main home (a holiday home pays the general rate), Catalonia’s 20% for large owners, protected (VPO) homes, buying through a company, and the 3% kept back when the seller doesn’t live in Spain, which comes out of the price.

An estimate from the national scales and each region’s general rates, checked on 27 October 2026. It is not tax advice: your notary or gestoría confirms the amounts.

Sources: the laws behind each figure

What to check before you sign

Spanish debts can follow the home, not the seller. Have an independent lawyer check, before the arras:

The nota simple from the Land Registry: who owns the home, and its mortgages and other charges. It costs a few euros, online.
The community fees. In a building, the home answers for the unpaid fees of the current year and the three before. The seller has to bring the community’s certificate of debts to the notary, unless you expressly waive it: don’t.
The IBI, the town hall’s property tax: the home stays liable for what the seller didn’t pay, and the notary warns you of any debt.
The energy certificate, registered, which the seller annexes to the contract. It is valid up to 10 years.
The habitability certificate or occupancy licence, depending on the region: required to sell in Catalonia, stated in the deed when missing in the Balearic Islands, renewed in the Valencia region when the licence is over ten years old.
A military authorisation, if you are not an EU citizen and the home is in a restricted zone (below).

Can a non-resident get a mortgage in Spain?

Yes. Spain’s mortgage law covers every person borrowing against a home, with no condition of residence. The bank has to judge your income, not mainly the home’s value, so expect to show your foreign income and taxes. Banks usually lend non-residents less than residents, often 60 to 70% of the value: that is the banks’ practice, not a rule.

At least 10 days before you sign, the bank gives you its binding offer (the FEIN), a sheet of warnings (the FiAE) and the draft contract.
Before the signing, at the latest the day before, you see a notary of your choice, in person or through a representative, who explains the loan to you, free of charge. Without it, no mortgage deed.
The bank pays the gestoría, the notary for the mortgage deed, its registration and its stamp duty; you pay the valuation.
A loan in another currency than your income’s can be converted to the currency you are paid in.

Work out your monthly payment, how much a bank may lend you and the cash you need at signing with our Spanish mortgage calculator.

Can you buy a house in Spain without being there?

Yes, through a power of attorney (poder notarial) to someone who signs the deed in Spain for you: a lawyer, a relative, a friend. You sign it:

At a Spanish consulate, which acts as a Spanish notary: such a power needs no apostille. The consulate signs the power, not the purchase itself (London’s says so), and not every consulate offers it.
Before a notary in your country: the power then needs the Hague apostille and a translation into Spanish.

For a purchase, consulates ask for the home’s Land Registry reference if you have it, and the Spanish notary checks that the power is enough for what is signed. If you sign in person and don’t speak Spanish, the notary can translate, or you bring an interpreter.

Military authorisation: islands and border towns

A law of 1975 still asks buyers who are not EU citizens for a military authorisation in zones of interest for national defence: all the islands, the Balearic and the Canary Islands included, the municipalities on the French and Portuguese borders, and other areas such as Cartagena, the Strait of Gibraltar and the Bay of Cádiz. EU citizens have been exempt since 1990; British buyers have needed it since Brexit.

The centres of towns that are not on a border are outside the zones, areas declared of national tourist interest count as authorised, and the Ministry of Defence’s instructions, quoted in a 2023 decision, waive it on built-up land outside the border towns. The notary and the Land Registry ask for it before signing or registering. The Ministry decides, within four months by the regulation; in Ceuta and Melilla, every buyer, Spaniards included, needs the Government Delegate’s authorisation.

Narrow sunlit street between white houses in an Andalusian village

Property tax in Spain when you live abroad

Once you own the home, you pay every year:

The IBI, the town hall’s property tax: 0.4% to 1.1% of the cadastral value, at the rate your town sets, due by whoever owns the home on 1 January.
The non-residents’ income tax on a home you don’t rent out: Spain counts an imputed income of 2% of the cadastral value (1.1% where the values were revised in the last ten years) and taxes it at 19% if you live in the EU or the EEA, 24% if you live elsewhere, the UK and the US included. You file form 210, and can pay it by transfer from abroad: from the 2026 income, between 1 April and 31 December of the following year. Our Spain tax calendar has those dates, and can remind you of them.
Rent it out, and the rent is taxed instead: at 19% after expenses if you live in the EU or the EEA, at 24% on the gross rent otherwise.
Wealth tax, on your assets in Spain only, above an allowance of €700,000, under the rules of the region where most of them are; and a national solidarity tax above €3 million.

Live in Spain more than 183 days a year and you become a tax resident instead: see our guide to Spanish tax residency. A Spanish digital certificate lets you deal with the tax agency and your town hall online.

Selling later

As a non-resident, you pay 19% on your gain. The buyer keeps back 3% of the price for the tax agency within a month; you then have three months to file form 210, deduct those 3%, and get back what was overpaid. The town hall’s plusvalía municipal is due only if the land gained value.

Passing the home on one day? Each heir will need a NIE and will pay inheritance tax in Spain on it, under the rules of a Spanish region.

Comparing countries? Our guide to buying a house in Portugal follows the same steps there.

How we checked this guide

The rules, amounts and fees in this guide were checked on 27 October 2026 against the law and the official portals:

Ley del Notariado, articles 23 and 24 (the tax number and the means of payment in the deed), Ley Hipotecaria, article 254 (no registration without them, nor before the tax), and RD 1065/2007, article 20 (a foreigner’s tax number is the NIE);
Real Decreto 1155/2024, article 205 (the NIE), the Police’s procedure page and form 790 code 012, and the NIE pages of the consulates in London and New York;
the transfer tax law (RDLeg 1/1993) and each region’s tax law: Andalusia (Ley 5/2021), Valencia (Ley 13/1997, as amended by Ley 5/2025), Catalonia (Codi tributari, Decreto-ley 5/2025), Madrid (DLeg 1/2010), the Balearic Islands (DLeg 1/2014), the Canary Islands (DLeg 1/2009 and 1/2025) and Murcia (DLeg 1/2010, as amended by Ley 3/2025); the VAT law, article 91;
the notaries’ and registrars’ scales (RD 1426/1989 and 1427/1989), the Código Civil, articles 1454 and 1455, the Ley de Propiedad Horizontal, article 9, the local finance law (TRLRHL), articles 64, 72 and 106, and RD 390/2021 on energy certificates;
Ley 5/2019 on mortgage loans, articles 2, 11, 14, 15 and 20;
the non-residents’ income tax law (TRLIRNR), articles 10, 24 and 25, its regulation, article 14, and Orden HAC/623/2026 (form 210); the wealth tax law (Ley 19/1991) and Ley 38/2022 (the solidarity tax);
Ley 8/1975 and RD 689/1978 (the restricted zones), and the decision of the DGSJFP of 25 May 2023;
Ley Orgánica 1/2025 (the end of the golden visa), Real Decreto 806/2026 (the dissolution of Parliament), the Congress’s record of bill 122/000196 (the 100% tax, lapsed) and Real Decreto-ley 29/2026 (pending validation);
the Banco de España on refused foreign IBANs, and the consulates of London, Toronto and Dublin on powers of attorney.

Written by Brenda L., relocation expert at AnchorLess. This guide explains the rules; for a purchase, have an independent lawyer check the home and the contract.

Frequently asked questions

Can foreigners buy property in Spain?

Yes. Spain has no general restriction on foreign buyers, resident or not, and the purchase tax doesn’t depend on your nationality. Non-EU buyers need a military authorisation in some zones: the islands, the border towns and a few other areas.

Do I need a NIE to buy a house in Spain?

Yes. The deed states the tax number of everyone who signs it, a foreigner’s is the NIE, and the Land Registry won’t register a purchase without it. You can get it in Spain, at a consulate, or through a representative; AnchorLess gets it for you from abroad.

How much is the tax when buying a house in Spain?

On a resale home, the region’s transfer tax: 6% in Madrid, 7% in Andalusia, 9% in the Valencia region, 10% to 13% in Catalonia, by price. On a new home, 10% VAT and a stamp duty set by the region, 0.75% to 2%; in the Canary Islands, 7% IGIC instead of VAT.

What are the total costs of buying property in Spain?

The purchase tax, then a few hundred euros each for the notary and the Land Registry, set by national scales (about €388 and €205 for a €300,000 home, before VAT), plus your lawyer and the gestoría. Buyers often budget 10 to 15% on top of the price, most of it the tax.

Can I get a mortgage in Spain as a non-resident?

Yes. Banks judge your income and usually lend non-residents less than residents, often 60 to 70% of the value. The bank gives you its binding offer at least 10 days before you sign, and a notary explains the loan to you for free.

Can I buy a house in Spain without travelling there?

Yes, with a power of attorney to someone who signs the deed for you, signed at a Spanish consulate or before a notary in your country with the Hague apostille and a translation into Spanish.

Does buying a house in Spain give me residency?

No. The golden visa ended on 3 April 2025 for new applications. To live in Spain, you need a residence permit, such as the non-lucrative visa or the digital nomad visa; EU citizens register.

Is the 100% tax on foreign buyers in force?

No. Announced in January 2025 and tabled as a bill in May 2025, it was never debated and lapsed when Parliament was dissolved on 6 October 2026.

What taxes do I pay on a Spanish home as a non-resident?

The town hall’s IBI every year, and the non-residents’ income tax on an imputed income of 1.1% or 2% of the cadastral value if you don’t rent it out: 19% if you live in the EU or the EEA, 24% elsewhere. Wealth tax applies above €700,000 of assets in Spain.

Do I need a Spanish bank account to buy a house in Spain?

No law requires one, but it is the simple way to get the bank cheque for the notary, a Spanish mortgage and the home’s bills. AnchorLess opens one for you from your home country.

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