100% Property Tax for Brits wanting to buy in Spain

Other post previously discussed

With links that aren't pay walled.

Ah great I'll check it out thanks. I didn't realise it was paywalled sorry

It is not just for Brits. It's for anyone outside the European Union.

J

Ahhhh ---- yet another one of the benefits of being outside the EU!

Saw this yesterday in Spanish news. It's a statement by the prime minister. There's not anything for the government to debate or vote on yet. The 100% tax thing would be pretty difficult to get passed, it's a coalition government so no large majority to pass whatever takes their fancy. I think it is a case of throw the media something radical that will get headlines whilst something they would rather no one notices is happening elsewhere. Smacks of classic distraction politics. Some stuff, like closing the net on illegal rentals, dealing with squatters and more social housing in cities is the type of thing Sanchez wants the voters to hear, but that doesn't make headlines, so they need to throw in something controversial, like 100% purchase tax for non-EU buyers, to get the headline. 

Some said similar about the Golden Visa, but he got it passed.

The EU were cracking down on Golden Visas so it was easy to get that through. It was inevitable. The non-eu market is a tiny proportion of house sales in Spain. They will just go elsewhere. The amount of tax that that would be collected would be miniscule. It just sounds good but would make no difference to the housing or rental market. In fact it will probably drive up house prices now and make the situation worse. 

Bee

The issue is a genuine one. Spain social housing is only 2.5% of all stock. Netherlands, for example is 34%.

Young families need affordable housing and Spain doesn't build them - private developers do. So there has to be some change. 

None of this is the fault of foreign buyers, from wherever. It's a problem caused by successive Spanish Governments - right and left wing- since the Franco era, whereby a cornerstone policy and  tax and revenue schemes were created to attract inward investment, especially in coastal areas.

I don't see that changing too much as it's too important to the economy...but I do see the requirement for developers to create amongst all of their new builds, affordable housing stock with capped rents. 

The issue is the same all over Europe and will need to be addressed to avoid unrest amongst voters. 

Indeed.

The problem will be of course if blanket targets are introduced at relatively local level - the key thing is building "social housing" or "homes for workers" or whatever description you may wish to use to describe them where they are needed.

These homes need to be where there are jobs - otherwise they would either be subject to low utilisation and probably sold off.

A quick check on Wikipedia/Statista shows unemployment levels vary between 7% and 16% (excluding Ceuta and Melilla as high outliers given their situation) across the regions.

There's little point building houses without ensuring their is sufficient availability of employment to act as a pull factor to get people to move there. 

The UK has a problem when you look at the price of a flat in London and the price of a (larger) house in the NE or NW of England. People may be prepared to move to London (or elsewhere) in search of better paid employment but if the cost of living is extreme by comparison then it isn't going to work for long.l