Shorouk Express
Spain’s hard-right party Vox has submitted a proposal in Congress to increase taxes for foreign property buyers in Spain, with the aim of using the money to give tax breaks for Spanish citizens and promote the construction of subsidised housing.
In response to Spain’s housing crisis, where many Spaniards don’t have access to affordable housing, far-right Vox want to increase property taxes for foreigners in order to help locals.
According to party leader Santiago Abascal, the increase in property purchases by foreigners has made access to housing difficult for young Spanish people and families in Spain.
This measure is necessary to “curb the mass acquisition of housing” by foreign capital, according to Vox’s statement.
The party wants the extra taxes from foreigners to mean that Spaniards are exempt from taxes related to their first home purchase. They also propose the possibility of deferring these taxes for up to 15 years, interest-free, to facilitate access to homeownership.
According to Vox, the rate of young homeowners has fallen from 56 to 27 percent, while home purchases by foreigners have risen from 7.6 percent in 2007 to 19.3 percent in 2025.
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Vox also demands the elimination of the inheritance and gift tax at a national level, particularly when it comes to the inheriting or buying property, when it is destined to be a primary residence.
There is no mention of whether they want this to be applicable to all foreign buyers or just non-residents.
READ ALSO: Spain pushes forward with tax that will double property price for foreigners
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Vox’s proposal is in fact not so far off from Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s idea, announced last January, to impose a 100 percent tax on non-EU non-resident property buyers.
According to the PSOE’s legal text this tax “will be obtained by applying a 100% tax rate to the taxable base”, which is the value of the property in question.
For example, a 100 percent tax on a property worth €200,000 would mean non-EU non-resident buyers would have to pay a total of €400,000, which is double.
Property tax for Spanish residents and EU buyers is around eight percent of the value of the property.
“We’re going to ban non-EU foreigners who don’t live in our country from speculating with the housing our country’s families need,” Sánchez had said when he first announced the idea.
It’s not yet clear when or even if this will come into force, however, as it will still require parliamentary approval. This is looking more likely though, as judging by Vox’s proposal they may be willing to side with Sánchez for once.
Many experts and politicians believe that foreign buyers and overseas investment companies are partly to blame for Spain’s housing crisis.
According to data from Spain’s General Council of Notaries, the national average of homes bought by foreigners in Spain was 11.5 percent in 2024. Out of these, the majority of purchases were made by non-residents – a total of 26.9 percent.
In the Balearics, the situation is extreme, where almost half of all properties sold last year were bought by foreigners and in Valencia foreigners bought up 38.9 percent of homes.
READ MORE: Foreigners buy 4 in 10 properties in Spain’s Balearic Islands
