Spain is planning to impose a tax of as much as 100% on properties purchased by non-residents from international locations outdoors the EU, such because the UK.
Saying the transfer, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez stated the “unprecedented” measure was needed to satisfy the nation’s housing emergency.
“The West faces a decisive problem: To not turn into a society divided into two lessons, the wealthy landlords and poor tenants,” he stated.
Non-EU residents purchased 27,000 properties in Spain in 2023, he advised an financial discussion board in Madrid, “to not reside in” however “to become profitable from them”.
“Which, within the context of scarcity that we’re in, [we] clearly can’t enable,” he added.
The transfer was subsequently designed to “priorit[ise] that the out there houses are for residents”, he stated.
Sánchez didn’t present particulars on how the tax would work nor a timeline for presenting it to parliament for approval, the place he has usually struggled to assemble enough votes to go laws.
However his authorities stated the proposal could be finalised “after cautious examine”.
It’s considered one of a dozen deliberate measures introduced by the prime minister on Monday geared toward enhancing housing affordability within the nation.
Different measures introduced embrace a tax exemption for landlords who present reasonably priced housing, transferring greater than 3,000 houses to a brand new public housing physique, and tighter regulation and better taxes on vacationer flats.
“It is not honest that those that have three, 4 or 5 flats as short-term leases pay much less tax than resorts,” he stated.
