Verified lawyers, accountants, real estate, healthcare and relocation services for expats in Spain — plus a free, sourced guide to buying property here.
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A free, sourced guide to the process, written for a first-time foreign buyer. Every figure is dated and linked to where it came from.
There is no restriction on foreign ownership of Spanish property. A buyer of any nationality can hold Spanish real estate outright, in their own name, with the same freehold title a Spanish national would get. You do not need residency, a Spanish company, or a trust structure. The one document you cannot proceed without is an NIE (Número de Identificación de Extranjero) — a foreigner's tax identification number. Every buyer named on the deed needs their own. You can apply through a Spanish consulate in your home country or in Spain, and it is the single most common cause of a delayed completion, so start it early.
One change matters enormously if you have been reading older guides: buying property in Spain no longer grants you residency. Spain's golden visa, which gave residence rights in exchange for a €500,000 property purchase, was abolished on 3 April 2025. People who applied before that date keep their rights, but the route is closed to new applicants. If someone is still selling you Spanish property on the basis that it comes with a visa, that is a reason to walk away from that adviser.
This is the one that saves people the most money, and the one most often got wrong. Your lawyer must be independent — not the developer's lawyer, not the estate agent's recommendation, not someone whose fee depends on the sale completing. Their job is to obtain the nota simple from the Land Registry (Registro de la Propiedad) and confirm who actually owns the property, whether there is an outstanding mortgage or embargo against it, whether unpaid community fees or local taxes will transfer to you, and whether what has been built matches what has planning permission. Illegal or partly-unlicensed builds are common in rural and coastal Spain and are very expensive to discover after completion.
The notary is a public official, not your representative. They witness and execute the deed (escritura pública) and confirm both parties understood it. They do not act in your interest and will not chase the due diligence your lawyer should be doing. Their fees are set by state tariff, so there is little point shopping around.
Needed after you buy, not before. If you are a non-resident owner you have an annual filing obligation whether or not you rent the property out — see below. Many owners do not discover this for years, and the back-filing plus surcharges is an unpleasant surprise.
A structural survey is not customary in Spain the way it is in the UK, but on an older, rural or self-built property it is worth commissioning one. Separately, if you are converting a large sum from sterling or dollars, compare a specialist currency broker against your bank's rate — on a €300,000 purchase the spread between the two is routinely worth more than your legal fees.
General guidance, not legal or tax advice — sources and dates below.
Budget 10–15% of the purchase price on top of the price for a resale property. The single biggest variable is which region you buy in, because the main purchase tax is set regionally and the spread is wide.
| Cost | Typical 2026 figure | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| ITP (transfer tax, resale) | 6%–13% | Set by region. Madrid and Navarra 6%, Euskadi 4% on housing, Canarias 6.5%, Andalucía 7%, La Rioja 7%, Galicia and Murcia 8%, Cantabria and Castilla-La Mancha 9%, Comunitat Valenciana 9%, Catalunya 10–13% and Illes Balears 8–13% on marginal scales. Calculate yours → |
| IVA + AJD (new build) | 10% + 0.75%–1.5% | New builds pay VAT instead of ITP, plus stamp duty (AJD). |
| Notary | €600–€1,200 | Set by state tariff, scales with price. |
| Land Registry | €400–€1,000+ | Regulated, scales with price. |
| Independent lawyer | around 1% + VAT | Often a minimum fee on lower-value purchases. |
Then there are the costs that continue every year, which buyers routinely leave out of their budget:
EU, EEA and Swiss citizens have freedom of movement and simply register. For everyone else, the two routes most property buyers use are:
The IPREM is reset annually, so the non-lucrative threshold moves each year. Check the figure for the year you actually apply.
Every number on this page is listed below with where it came from and when we checked it. Last reviewed: 8 August 2026. Where a figure is set annually we have said so — treat anything undated elsewhere on the internet with suspicion.
These are secondary sources. For anything that will cost you money, confirm against the official authority named in each section, or ask a qualified local professional.
If something here is wrong or out of date, please tell us and we will fix it. If you or your business are referred to anywhere on this site and you want that changed or removed, email us and we will action it — no questions asked.
