Alex Trelinski
PRIME Minister Pedro Sanchez has announced plans for tax increases on tourist flat rentals and restrictions on non-EU residents buying a home in Spain.
Monday’s announcement was part of a 12-point plan due to start in 2026 to promote public housing.
Sanchez said there was ‘an excess of Airbnb and a lack of housing’.
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“Our obligation is to prioritise use of homes over tourist use and we will make a change so that tourist flats are taxed as a business which means they will have to pay like hotels,” he stated.
Sanchez continued: “We are also going to limit the purchase of homes by non-EU non-resident foreigners who buy about 27,000 houses annually in Spain, mainly for speculation.”
The government will raise to 100% the tax levy to be paid by non-EU residents who do not live in Spain but buy a home.
That will follow April’s ending of the Golden Visa- the residence permits for foreigners who buy houses in Spain for more than €500,000.
To fight fraud, the government is also planning to tighten the regulation of seasonal rentals.
A fund will be created for Spain’s 17 regions plus local councils to apply for money to increase inspections of tourist properties to ensure they are licensed.
In other proposals, Sanchez said there would income tax exemptions of 100% for owners of empty properties so that they could get them filled with tenants.
Current aid programmes will be extended with a focus on the elderly, young people, people with disabilities and those living in impoverished areas.
One of the government’s objectives is to increase the stock of affordable housing in Spain.
Sanchez described the housing problem as ‘one of the main challenges’ of the West.”
“Average house prices in Europe have risen by 48% in the last decade and it is unbearable,” he said.
“Housing has become the biggest problem for the middle and working classes in Spain and in Europe,” he added.
