Where foreigners buy property in Spain
Spain has one of Europe's most mature foreign-buyer markets, concentrated on the Costa del Sol (Andalucía), Costa Blanca (Comunidad Valenciana), Catalonia, the Balearics, and increasingly Madrid for buyers who want a city base. Each of those is a different autonomous community, and that matters more in Spain than almost anywhere else in Europe.
Property taxes in Spain
Resale property purchases are taxed under ITP (Impuesto de Transmisiones Patrimoniales), a transfer tax that each autonomous community sets independently. Madrid charges 6%; Andalucía charges a flat 7%; Murcia charges 7.75%; Comunidad Valenciana cut its rate from 10% to 9% in mid-2026; Catalonia charges 10% up to €1 million and 11% above that; the Balearics use a progressive scale running from 8% up to 13% on the highest-value homes. Buying the same apartment can genuinely cost several percentage points more or less purely based on which region it's in — and these regional rates do get revised, so treat any specific figure as a starting point to confirm, not a permanent fact.
New-build property bought directly from a developer is taxed differently: 10% VAT (IVA) nationally — 7% IGIC instead in the Canary Islands, which sits outside the EU VAT area — plus a smaller regional stamp duty (AJD), typically 0.75–1.5% depending on the region.
Notary and land registry fees in Spain are set on a regulated national scale and are relatively modest, usually landing somewhere between €1,000–€2,500 combined for a typical home. Independent legal representation (strongly recommended, and standard practice for foreign buyers) typically runs around 1% of the price plus VAT.
Who pays the estate agent in Spain
Unlike Italy or Greece, Spanish real estate agency commission is customarily paid by the seller, not the buyer — so it generally isn't a cost you need to budget for as the purchaser, though it's worth confirming in writing with your agent.
Annual property taxes and ongoing costs
IBI, the annual municipal property tax, is based on the cadastral value (typically well below market price) at a rate the local council sets, usually equivalent to roughly 0.4–1.1% of that cadastral value. Non-residents who don't rent out the property also owe an annual 'imputed income tax' — a deemed-rental-income tax on the property itself, at 19% for EU/EEA citizens or 24% otherwise, calculated on a small percentage of the cadastral value. It's a small but easy-to-miss recurring obligation that catches a lot of second-home owners off guard in year two.