Spain's golden visa is gone and taxes vary sharply by region. Five real risks to weigh before buying, and how to manage each one.
Spain remains one of Europe's most liquid property markets — established legal protections, a huge foreign-buyer base and a wide range of regions from city apartments to coastal villas. But the rules changed meaningfully in the past two years, and a plan built on outdated assumptions can cost real money. Here are five risks worth weighing before you buy, and how to manage each one.
1. The golden visa route is gone
Spain abolished its whole Golden Visa programme, not just the property route, under Organic Law 1/2025, with effect from 3 April 2025. Buying property in Spain no longer gives you a path to residency on its own — applications submitted before the deadline keep their rights, but anyone buying now needs a different residency route if that matters to their plan, such as the non-lucrative visa or a work/self-employment permit.
How to manage it. Separate the property decision from the residency decision. If living in Spain matters to you, confirm which visa category you actually qualify for before you commit to a purchase, rather than assuming ownership itself will open the door.
2. Purchase tax varies sharply by region
Resale property carries a transfer tax (ITP) set by each autonomous region, not a single national rate — roughly 6% in Madrid, 7% in Andalusia, 6.5% in the Canary Islands, around 9-10% in Valencia and Catalonia, and a sliding scale up to the low teens in the Balearic Islands. New-build purchases carry VAT instead, plus stamp duty. A budget built on the wrong region's rate can be off by several percentage points of the price.
How to manage it. Confirm the exact regional rate for your specific municipality and property type before you set a budget, not after you've found the property — the same price tag can mean a noticeably different total cost in two different regions.
3. Non-resident tax applies whether or not you rent the property out
Non-resident owners pay Spanish income tax (IRNR) even on a property that sits empty — Spain imputes a notional rental income based on the property's cadastral value and taxes it annually, at 19% for EU/EEA residents and 24% for everyone else. If you do rent it out, actual rental income is taxed too, and non-EU owners can't deduct expenses against it the way EU owners can. Plus the annual local property tax (IBI) applies regardless.
How to manage it. Budget these as running costs from day one, not as a surprise at tax-filing time, and get a clear answer on your own residency status and its effect on the rate and deductions before you buy.
4. Some areas cap what you can charge in rent
Under Spain's national housing law, municipalities with fast-rising or high rents relative to local income can be designated "áreas tensionadas" (stressed zones), where an official rental price index limits new-lease rents for owners with five or more properties. Catalonia has applied this most aggressively — around 140 municipalities are designated there, covering the large majority of the region's population, and the rules have tightened further into 2026.
How to manage it. If your plan depends on market-rate rental yield, check whether the specific municipality is a designated stressed zone and what the index implies for that property before you rely on advertised rental projections.
5. Not every listed property is fully legal
Particularly on parts of the coast and in rural areas, some properties were built without full planning consent, and can carry restrictions on registration, renovation or resale until regularised — a process that isn't guaranteed to succeed. A clean listing photo and a friendly seller don't confirm planning legality.
How to manage it. Before you commit, confirm the property has a valid licencia de primera ocupación (occupancy licence) or, for older builds, a cédula de habitabilidad, and that it's correctly registered — an independent lawyer should check this as a matter of course, not an optional extra.
FAQ
Is Spain still a good place to invest without the golden visa? For buyers whose goal is pure investment or a second home rather than residency, yes — the tax and legal changes affect planning, not the underlying property market. Do all regions tax buyers the same way? No — purchase tax, and in some cases rental rules, differ meaningfully by autonomous region and even by municipality. Do I pay tax on a property I never rent out? Yes — Spain taxes non-residents on imputed income from an unrented property, plus the annual IBI. Can I always charge market rent? Not in designated stressed zones, where a price index can cap what large landlords may charge on new leases. How do I know a property is legally built? Check for a valid occupancy licence or habitability certificate and confirm registration with an independent lawyer before signing.
How we help
We map the real tax exposure and legal status of a specific Spanish property before you commit, and connect you with local lawyers who check planning legality, registry status and rental-zone rules. Informational only, not legal or tax advice — rules vary by region and change; confirm current details for your specific situation with a qualified professional.