This will undoubtedly make some brexiteers very unhappy.
Spain proposes 100% tax on homes bought by non-EU residents
31–40 of 282 posts
Re: Spain proposes 100% tax on homes bought by non-EU residents
#32what about corporate ownership?
In order to justify a corporate purchase, there needs to be a return on investment. A vacant property is not that.
Re: Spain proposes 100% tax on homes bought by non-EU residents
#33so is there any actual evidence that foreign home ownership is causing meaningful housing price inflation in Spain? or is this just uninformed pandering like it is in the US
Depending on the market, market prices can be decided by a very small number of transactions that set things. Probably true for houses in Spain (limited supply) and foreign wealthy buyers (very high potential demand)
Re: Spain proposes 100% tax on homes bought by non-EU residents
#34Earlier quoted context omitted.
NIMBYism making it extremely difficult and expensive to build supply as is needed. in 1946 the US had a population of 141M and built 700k housing units in 2024 the US had a population of 336M and built 90k housing units
"NIMBYism making it extremely difficult and expensive to build supply as is needed." Only in some areas. There are other factors affecting how expensive houses are across the country, such as materials/labor, preferences for larger/fancier houses, location preference, and increasingly complex/expensive code.
> preferences for larger/fancier houses
And more space per person, so older houses now house far fewer than they used to. US has more bedrooms without an occupant than ever.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/09/realestate/empty-bedrooms...
Re: Spain proposes 100% tax on homes bought by non-EU residents
#35I want to make sure I understand this correctly. If you bought a house a few years ago, Spain will effectively rob you of it now? Or will it only apply to new purchases, so you'll have to pay x2 market value if you want to buy one? If it's the former, than even flaunting such a plan is a complete catastrophe for any foreign investment in Spain from now on. But if it's the latter, it'll just bring to life a whole indu…
>If it's the former, than even flaunting such a plan is a complete catastrophe for any foreign investment in Spain from now on. There's investments that don't involve real estate. Moreover, property isn't a productive asset, so discouraging investment into that is arguably a good thing. Investing money into a factory means you get more stuff produced. Investing money into property just... sits there.
> property isn't a productive asset
It is when you rent it out.
Re: Spain proposes 100% tax on homes bought by non-EU residents
#36Earlier quoted context omitted.
Sure, but it's one thing to not be building enough for people to live in, and another thing to not be building enough for people to keep empty flats as speculation vehicles.
How many % of flats are empty? At least in the US the hottest housing markets usually have the lowest vacancy rates. This makes sense, because the opportunity costs for leaving a property empty is higher, so owners are more tempted to rent them out.
The vacancy rates are deceiving though. If you have a place that is owned by someone and they are paying taxes on it, and it's not listed as a rental, it's not considered vacant.
In big cities there are definitely homes that are empty and not listed being used as a store of wealth. In fact just within view of my own home are two houses like that. Both owned by foreign families who wanted a safer place to keep their wealth than their own country (China and India respectively).
Re: Spain proposes 100% tax on homes bought by non-EU residents
#37Earlier quoted context omitted.
It’s always supply. It’s fair to criticize foreign ownership/hedge funds purchasing homes, but the overwhelming reason is that we are not building enough.
Sure, but it's one thing to not be building enough for people to live in, and another thing to not be building enough for people to keep empty flats as speculation vehicles.
I still have seen no evidence that VC-backed purchases are having any noticeable impact on the US housing market except possibly in 2 or 3 specific locales (and quite restricted ones at that).
So, whatcha got?
Re: Spain proposes 100% tax on homes bought by non-EU residents
#38Another (better?) target should be homes used for short term let - i.e AirBnB etc. Homes have such extreme valuations because of the underlying cash flow (or 'rent' in its most abstract sense). Without tourists willing to pay many multiples of what they'd pay at home for accommodation, that cash flow wouldn't be there.
The article says they are also targeting tourist rentals.
Re: Spain proposes 100% tax on homes bought by non-EU residents
#39Would it work or would it just make things worse?
It will make things worse
Re: Spain proposes 100% tax on homes bought by non-EU residents
#40Anything to stop a non-EU resident owning an EU company that owns a Spanish home?