Congratulations, you found your Spanish dream property!

What is the cost of buying a property in Spain?

Article Overview: Get the essential information in 30 seconds, then dive deeper into any section that interests you.

First question is:

• Is it a new-build property?
• Is it a resale?

Depending on your answer, the cost will be slightly different, but a good rule of thumb is 14%.

1. The cost of buying a New-build property in Spain: +/- 14%

   • VAT =10%
   • Property registration fees = 1.5%
   • Lawyer between 1 and 2%:
   • Other costs: Notary, stamps,…

    

   

   The cost of buying a new build property in Spain

2. The cost of buying a Resale property in Spain will be between 10 and 14%

   • Transfer Tax = 6 to 10% at the general tax rate (but you have reduced rates in some instances). This amount depends on which Spanish region this property is located.
   • Property registration fees = 1.5%
   • Lawyer between 1 and 2%
   • Other costs: Notary, stamps,…

    

   

   The cost of buying a resale property in Spain

   
   Don’t miss What is the legal due diligence for your Spanish property?Do you need a property lawyer or a tax advisor to assist you in Spain? Find a Spanish property lawyer in our network.

    

3. Other costs to take into account

   • Banking costs: Usually a percentage of the amount wired + cost of holding an account
     • This could be very important if you don’t have a Euro account and need to convert your currency like Pound, Dollar, Yuan, Shekel, Ruble,… up to 3%
     • Our Tip: You have companies specialised in wiring funds internationally working with segregated accounts at the central international banks:

    

   1. You can lock a currency level

   => You will know the commission BEFORE wiring the money

   => You will see the level at which you will convert your currency into Euros BEFORE wiring the money

   => You will know the exact amount you need to wire in your local currency BEFORE wiring the funds

   2. You wire the money in your currency

   3. The company will wire the money in Euros in Spain to your Spanish account (Don’t forget your NIE, read our earlier paper on that) , your lawyer account,…

    

   

   • Mortgage costs:
   • Bank valuation of the property = +/- 750€
   • Mortgage deed = +/- 750€

If you want to check the monthly cost of your mortgage, or what is your purchasing power for a Spanish property, check our ultimate mortgage calculator!

Related: Your definitive guide to your Spanish mortgage. How to get the best rates?

Do you want to find the best Spanish mortgage rates? Fill this quick form and ask our partner for a quote.

• Real Estate agent fee: Here is the good news you were waiting for: the seller is paying this one 😉 In general.

Before buying, you want to know the annual cost of owning a property in Spain. Read our paper on this subject.

All that information is from reliable sources. We advise you to review these with your fiscal and legal advisors to ensure all costs are up to date and adjusted to your specific situation.

Is the cost of living in Spain higher than in your home country?

Please review our comprehensive article and study on the subject.

If you are living in the UK, here is our dedicated article: Cost of living in Spain vs UK.

Please have a look at our detailed property buyers guides, custom-made for any nationality.

Here are our FREE pdf property buyers’ guides written for all the foreign nationalities looking to buy in Spain: Click on your country flag, you will find your pdf report at the end of each article. Get most of our tips there.

Do you want to start searching immediately?

Discover the best new build projects in Spain available right now

Don’t know where to buy? Start with our general article: Everything you ever wanted to know about the top 20 Spanish real estate markets

1. Best Professionals 2. Follow up 3. Competitive pricing 4. Partners 5. Qualitative Check

Get your insights right to your mailbox? Register for our newsletter!

Our Tip: Don’t forget all our checklists before buying your property:

Finally, if you want more, check our handy infographic: The 9 legal steps to your Spanish property

Spanish Property Costs FAQ

The post What is the real cost of buying a Property in Spain in 2025? appeared first on How to buy in Spain.

+10.1% Spanish properties sold in November vs one year ago

The Statistic office of the Spanish notaries has just released the numbers for the month of November, here is our quick snapshot of the main information:

• +10.1% transactions growth to 46.722
• €1.288 per square meter on average, with a decrease of 0.9%
  • -1.3% for houses
  • -0.1% for apartments
• €1.434 per square meter for existing apartments, with a decrease of 0.1%
• €1.799 per square meter for newbuild apartments, with a decrease of 1%
• +8.2% more mortgages issued to 20.033
• Average mortgage size of €133.980 for housing

More information in Spanish here

Looking for an expert in Spain? Ask us directly!

Stéphane

Senior Analyst and Strategist at HTBIS

Check the full team of HTBIS here

The post 46.722 Spanish properties sold in November, +10.1% while Prices are down 0.9% appeared first on How to buy in Spain.

Are you buying a property in Spain soon?

Our top 6 papers of 2017

• Our top 10 advices for buying your property in Spain
• What is the real cost of owning your Spanish property? Our most read paper (dec 17)!
• What is the real cost of buying your Spanish Property? More than 1.000 readers (dec 17)!
• Your Spanish Mortgage: How to apply? How to get the best rates?
• The Spanish NIE number? Learn everything here: What is it? How, Why, Where get it? More than 1.000 readers (dec 17)
• The 8 legal steps to your Spanish Property

We found your dream house in Spain (and dream architect if you want to build):

• Don’t search further, we found it! Your architect design dream house in Spain!

Have a look at our 20 Infographics helping your with all your purchasing steps

Of course, check our weather infographics with the monthly statistics of the top 20 cities in Spain:

Monthly Weather Statistics on top Spanish Cities

Looking for an expert in Spain? Ask us directly!

Stéphane

Senior analyst and strategist at HTBIS

Check the full HTBIS team here

The post Are you looking to buy your dream property in Spain? Check our best articles of 2017 appeared first on How to buy in Spain.

BBVA just released its update on the Spanish residential market

The real estate market has consolidated its recovery in 2016 but the market shows a great geographic heterogeneity. As you can see on our map on our homepage, Madrid, the Mediterranean cities and the islands are leading the way while other regions are showing negative price evolution on a yearly basis.

The main positive factors helping the real estate market identified by BBVA are the positive evolution of the economy, the favourable financial conditions and the income growth of households. At the same time, real estate investments remain an attractive alternative.

There were 460 000 transactions in 2016, which represents a growth of 13.5% as we wrote on our February news. Properties purchased by foreigners represented 17% of all transactions.

The construction sector is strong as well with 64000 building permits for new homes, a 30% growth.

BBVA expects price rises of 2.5% for 2017 in an environment that contains risks: possible increase of interest rate by the ECB and geopolitical uncertainties

What is the current situation on the Economy?

GDP growth expectations remain strong and close to 2.7% for both 2017 and 2018, just a little bit higher than the expectations of the EU Commission we reported in early February. Inflation coming back towards 2% this year could accelerate the ECB move on the tightening side. On the unemployment side, Spain created 413000 new jobs in 2016 and the unemployment rate came down to 19% a decrease of close to 2 percentage points. Furthermore, BBVA expects a further decrease of 920 000 persons towards 15.8% end 2018. On the risk side, BBVA points towards uncertainty regarding the brexit, uncertainty regarding the new US administration, the cost of energy, inflation evolution and budget deficit expected to be 3.1% of GDP in 2017.

Elections in France on April and in Germany in September could be external risks.

Check our table of up to date Spanish economic indicators in our trends section.

Recovery of the property market continues for the second year.

BBVA points out the important correction that the market went trough since 2006:

• The price of housing contracted by around 38% in real terms
• As you saw on our chart, housing sales fell from 955186 transactions in 2006 to 300 000 in 2013.
• Initiations of new contracts fell by 96% between 2006 and 2013.

This being said, the market seems to have found a bottom in 2013 and is showing a new growth phase: residential transactions grew for a third consecutive year and prices are rising as well for the second year in a row.

In 2016, the rebound was driven by 3 different parts: Madrid, the Mediterranean cities and the Islands.

We reported earlier this month the different property price evolutions per region of Spain in 2016.

The pick up of sales drives the prices

Domestic demand is driven by job creation says BBVA. In 2015 the growth was 9.4% and in 2016 it was even stronger at 14.1%. The regions with the strongest domestic demand were Baleares, Catalonia and Madrid. If you compare that with the foreigners real estate activity in Spain, as we wrote in January, it is not a surprise to see Madrid disappear from the top 3. The “Comunitat Valenciana” is the biggest Autonomous Region in term of transactions with close to 30% of the transactions. Andalucia and Catalonia are second and third with 20% and 15% of transactions.

Financing remains favourable

As you can find on our return & finance tables, long-term rates are very low at 1.6% and short-term rates, Euribor 1 Year, are negative. At the same time, as you will read it in our tables, the gross yield on rent estimated by the central bank of Spain at end 2016 is 4.4%.

Strong activity by foreigners with 17% of the market and 14% yearly growth

It is interesting to note that since 2009, foreigners bought more properties every year in Spain! Check this impressive chart:

Which nationalities are the biggest buyers?

United Kingdom, France, Germany, Sweden, Belgium,… check our infographic on that.

What are the expectations for 2017

BBVA concludes that the expectations are mildly positive:

• GDP growth expected to be at 2.7%
• 450000 creation of jobs to move the unemployment rate further down to 17.5%
• 490000 transactions expected, +7% vs 2016, driven by local and foreign demand
• Low-interest environment
• New building activity is back in growth territory

While at the same time risks are present:

• Brexit
• US policy
• Inflation
• Interest rates
• Geopolitical uncertainties

Have a look at the full report in Spanish here.

Looking for an expert in Spain? Ask us directly!

Stéphane

Senior analyst and strategist at HTBIS

Check the full HTBIS team here

The post Update on the Spanish property market, March 2017 appeared first on How to buy in Spain.

Barcelona has always been a world known city

with its temperate climate and proximity to the Mediterranean Sea. With the crisis of 2008, the interest in real estate in Barcelona diminished. For the last 3 years, the effects of the economic crisis have been fading away. Thus, the Barcelona real estate market is growing again and it is attracting new foreign investors. At the same time, the cost of living in Barcelona is very cheap vs other cities in the world.

Dark days are over

In 2014 the real estate market stopped descending, in 2015 a steady growth started, and in 2016 the prices on flats grew 11%. The price for square meter last year ended just under 4000€ per square meter.

And it seems like it is not the end of the growth. Gonzalo Bernardos, a real estate expert and professor of University of Barcelona, in an interview in the Spanish newspaper “La Vanguardia”, predicts that prices on flats will grow around 20% in Barcelona as a result of foreign investments.

Historical price comparison between Barcelona and Spain

Terrorist attacks in Europe and political crisis in some countries of the Mediterranean area are playing in favour for Barcelona to become one of the main international real estate investment focus.

Who is buying in Barcelona?

Chinese bought the most flats in the city last year. The buyers are mainly from the big cities of China (Shanghai and Beijing). They choose Barcelona because there is a booming Chinese community and the air quality is much better than in their hometowns. Another reason is the so-called “Golden Visa”. Spanish government gives permanent residence to those buyers, who spend more than half a million euros on real estate. This is a way for non-Europeans to travel freely inside the European Union.

Brexit and the dramatic fall of the Russian ruble weakened the positions of British and Russian nationals in terms of investing into property abroad, but they are still among the top buyers in the Catalan capital. Guifré Homedes Amat, director of the Barcelona Office and International Manager of Amat Immobiliaris points that:

for the last three years Egyptians have been among the top buyers. They are usually top executives or businessmen, who are looking for a second home in the city”.

If we look at Catalonia only, French are on the top of real estate buyers, followed by Chinese and Russians.

French, Chinese, Russians and Egyptians.

It is worth mentioning that the nationals from Nordic European countries and the USA, who are mostly looking for good weather, vivid culture and shopping, have Barcelona among their preferences.

What are the most popular neighbourhoods?

Barceloneta, Poble Sec and Gòtic-Born are the top neighbourhoods for foreign investment:

• Gòtic-Born is the centre of Barcelona, that’s why buyers like it. It is in the heart of the city and there you can find all the conveniences you could ever want in the city; from schools, clinics and grocery stores to fashionable boutiques, cosy bars and fancy restaurants.
• Poble Sec is nowadays the trendy neighbourhood, where young people can buy cheaper flats than the centrical ones and also enjoy some of the best Cultural venues of Barcelona (like Teatre i Sala Apolo).
• Barceloneta is the gate of the sea and some foreigners like it due to its location by the beaches. The interest of the foreigners in this neighbourhood is sparkling its economy. Therefore, more basic services are developing in the area along with the public transportation.

Such neighbourhoods as Eixample, Les Corts and Sarrià-Sant Gervasi are also popular among the foreign investors. These neighbourhoods are centrical or not far from the centre (15-20 minutes’ walk). They have all the facilities that one need and offer a quieter atmosphere than the centre, making them suitable for families and retired couples. In these areas flats are a bit more expensive, often starting from 4.500€ per square meter.

Read our article on the Costa de Barcelona: Everything you ever wanted to know about the Costa de Barcelona.

Know everything on the Costa de Barcelona: its Airports, its AVE stations, its Cities and villages, its shopping places: Traditional & Flea markets, Outlets and shopping malls. What should you visit? The Unesco sites, the parks for kids, the green parks, the golf courses, the universities and last but not least the top beaches. Check out our infographic.

Find all our other detailed maps of all the Spanish Costas and the Costa de Barcelona.

If you want to invest in Spain, read our paper on “Why you should invest in Spain residential market now?“.

Have a look at our ePostcards before planning your next holidays in Spain.

Do you want to check the yearly weather statistics in Barcelona before buying? Check the yearly weather statistics of Barcelona on our Infographic.

Get your insights right to your mailbox? Register to our newsletter: https://howtobuyinspain.com/en/newsletter/

Looking for an expert in Spain? Ask us directly!

Raimon

Senior Journalist and writer at HTBIS

Check the full HTBIS team here

The post Barcelona real estate market is rising in 2017 appeared first on How to buy in Spain.