The Real Cost of Buying in Spain as a Non-Resident (2026)

The asking price is the one number every buyer knows and the least useful one. On a Spanish purchase, the figure that leaves your account is between 10% and 14% higher, and a second set of numbers arrives every year afterwards — including one that surprises people who leave the property empty, because they assume an empty house cannot be taxed on income it never earned.

None of this is hidden. It is simply spread across a transfer tax, a notary, a registry, a lawyer, and a tax office, and nobody hands you the total in one place until you are already committed. So here is the total, for a non-resident buying in Andalucía in 2026.

The one-off costs: what you pay to become the owner

What you pay depends first on whether the property is a resale or a new build from a developer. They are taxed under two entirely different regimes, and the gap between them is roughly two percentage points of the purchase price.

Buying a resale

Cost	Rate	On €750,000
Transfer tax (ITP)	7% in Andalucía	€52,500
Notary	~0.1–0.4%, on a sliding scale	€800–€2,000
Land registry	~0.05–0.3%	€600–€1,500
Lawyer	~1% + 21% IVA	€9,075
Gestoría / admin	fixed fee	€300–€600
Total added	≈ 8.5–9.5%	≈ €64,000–€66,000

Andalucía charges a flat 7% ITP on resale homes, with a reduced 6% where the property is a main residence and the value does not exceed €150,000, and 3.5% for certain buyers — under-35s, large families, and buyers with a recognised disability — again within value limits. At Sotogrande prices, 7% is the number that applies.

One point that catches people out: ITP is charged on the higher of the price paid or the tax authority's own reference value (valor de referencia) for the property. If you negotiate hard and buy below that reference value, the tax office still charges you on its figure. Ask your lawyer for the reference value before you agree a price, not after.

Buying a new build

Cost	Rate	On €750,000
IVA (VAT)	10% on residential	€75,000
Stamp duty (AJD)	1.2% in Andalucía	€9,000
Notary	sliding scale	€900–€2,200
Land registry	sliding scale	€700–€1,600
Lawyer	~1% + 21% IVA	€9,075
Total added	≈ 12–13%	≈ €95,000–€97,000

New builds — including the resort developments at Alcaidesa and San Roque Club — carry 10% IVA plus 1.2% AJD rather than ITP. Note that 10% applies to the home and up to two parking spaces bought with it; land, commercial units and additional garages are charged at 21%.

If you are buying off-plan, those taxes are paid in stages as you pay the developer, not all at completion — and every stage payment you make before the property exists should be covered by a bank guarantee or insurance policy. That is a legal requirement, not a courtesy. If a developer cannot produce one, that is the moment to stop.

If you need a mortgage

Since a Supreme Court ruling in 2018, the lender pays the AJD on the mortgage deed, not the borrower. What you still pay is the bank's valuation (€400–€900), an arrangement fee where one applies (0–1% of the loan), and your own notary and registry costs on the mortgage deed. Non-residents are typically offered up to 60–70% loan-to-value, against 80% for residents, so the deposit is the bigger planning number.

The costs nobody puts in the brochure

The NIE. You cannot buy without a Spanish foreigner's identity number. It is inexpensive — a small fee plus whatever your lawyer charges to obtain it — but the appointment backlog is the real cost. Start it the week you decide to buy, not the week you find the house.

Power of attorney. Most non-resident buyers grant their lawyer a power of attorney so the completion does not depend on a flight. Budget €200–€400 including notary, and expect to sign it in front of a notary or a Spanish consulate.

Currency. On a €750,000 purchase, the spread between a high-street bank's exchange rate and a specialist broker's is routinely 2–3% — €15,000 to €22,500. It is quietly one of the largest single line items on this page, and the only one entirely within your control.

The 3% you may have to withhold. If the seller is a non-resident, the buyer is legally required to withhold 3% of the purchase price and pay it to the Spanish tax office within one month, as an advance against the seller's capital gains tax. Your lawyer handles the form, but the money comes out of your completion funds and it is your obligation, not the seller's.

What arrives every year afterwards

This is the part that surprises people in year two.

IBI — the local property tax, levied by the town hall on the cadastral value. Expect roughly €800–€2,500 a year on a Sotogrande property, depending on the municipality and the cadastral value — the rate differs between San Roque, which covers Sotogrande Alto and the Costa, and the neighbouring municipalities.

Rubbish collection and, where applicable, community fees. In a gated urbanisation such as La Reserva, or an apartment block on the Sotogrande Costa, community fees are the number to check before you buy, not after: on a resort development with pools, gardens and security they can run to several thousand euros a year.

Non-resident income tax (IRNR) — including on an empty property. This is the one that catches people. If you own a Spanish property and do not live in Spain, the tax office treats the property as generating a notional income even when it sits empty and earns nothing. The calculation is 1.1% of the cadastral value where that value has been revised in the last ten years, or 2% where it has not. Tax is then charged on that figure at 19% for residents of the EU, Norway and Iceland, and 24% for everyone else — which includes UK and Gibraltar residents since Brexit.

An example. A property with a cadastral value of €400,000, revised recently:

• Notional income: €400,000 × 1.1% = €4,400
• Tax at 24%: €1,056 a year
• The same property owned by an EU resident, at 19%: €836 a year

Small in isolation. It is filed on Modelo 210, and it is due whether or not anyone reminds you.

If you let the property, you declare the actual rental income instead. Here the EU/non-EU split bites much harder: EU, Norwegian and Icelandic residents deduct expenses — mortgage interest, community fees, IBI, repairs, agency commission — and pay 19% on the profit. Non-EU residents, including UK and Gibraltar residents, pay 24% on the gross rent with no deductions at all. On a property grossing €30,000 a year with €12,000 of costs, that is the difference between roughly €3,400 and €7,200 of tax.

Wealth tax. Andalucía applies a 100% rebate on regional wealth tax, so in practice most owners pay nothing regionally. The state-level solidarity tax on large fortunes applies above €3 million of Spanish net assets. If you are buying at that level, take advice before you decide whose name goes on the deed — the answer is rarely obvious and rarely reversible.

And when you eventually sell

Capital gains tax for non-residents is 19% on the gain, against which the 3% already withheld is credited. Plusvalía municipal, a town-hall tax on the increase in land value, is payable by the seller by law, though who actually bears it is sometimes negotiated. Keep every invoice for improvement works and every purchase cost on this page: they raise your acquisition cost and reduce the gain you are taxed on, and buyers who did not keep them pay for it years later.

The number to budget

	Resale	New build
Add to the asking price	9–10%	12–13%
On €750,000	€67,500–€75,000	€90,000–€97,500
Every year after	IBI + community + IRNR	IBI + community + IRNR

Work on 10% for a resale and 13% for a new build, and treat anything left over as contingency rather than as a windfall. Buyers who budget 5% and discover 11% at the notary are the ones who end up borrowing against a property they meant to own outright.

What we would tell you if you rang us

Three things, and none of them are about listings.

First, appoint an independent lawyer before you make an offer — not one recommended by the seller, and not one recommended by the agent selling you the property. It is roughly 1% and it is the only cost on this page that can save you the whole purchase price.

Second, ask for the reference value, the cadastral value and the last twelve months of community fees in writing before you sign anything. Those three numbers determine your transfer tax, your annual IRNR and your running costs respectively, and all three are knowable in advance.

Third, decide the ownership structure before completion, not after. Changing whose name is on a Spanish deed later means paying the transfer tax a second time.

Makarios Estates acts on the buyer's side. If you would like the full cost breakdown run against a specific property — the actual reference value, the actual cadastral value, the actual community fees — ask us and we will put the real numbers next to the asking price before you make an offer.

Figures current at August 2026 and specific to Andalucía. Tax rates and reference values change, regional rules differ, and individual circumstances change the answer. This is general information, not tax or legal advice — take advice from a Spanish lawyer and a tax adviser before you commit.