The Spanish government has unveiled drastic reforms affecting Britons’ ability to buy homes as the country desperately seeks to tackle the growing housing crisis.
Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez today announced a new package of 12 measures that the government hopes will win over residents furious over the lack of available housing.
A controversial proposal is the introduction of a tax for non-EU citizens who buy houses in the country and who do not yet reside in Spain.
The government suggested imposing a tax on foreigners, including Britons, by lifting the amount paid when purchasing a home at 100 percent of the property’s value.
Homebuyers in Spain are currently expected to pay costs and taxes worth between 10 and 12 percent of the price of the house, depending on where it is located.
Sánchez stated that the new rate would help “prioritize the availability of housing for residents.”
He noted that in 2023 alone, non-EU residents bought 27,000 houses and apartments in Spain, “not to live in them, but mainly to speculate.”
He said this is “something that, in the context of the shortages we are experiencing, we cannot afford.”
Spain has seen mass demonstrations grow year after year, with aggrieved locals decrying a housing shortage while opportunists buy houses and rent them out to tourists, or leave them empty for most of the year.
Residency in Spain is open to UK citizens and other non-EU citizens planning to stay longer than 90 days, subject to payment of fees and proof of financial stability.
Could it be affected by the plans? Email your reaction to rory.tingle@mailonline.co.uk
Protesters march shouting slogans against the Formula 1 Barcelona Fan Festival in the center of Barcelona, Spain, on Wednesday, June 19.

Protesters hold a banner reading “Mallorca is not for sale” during a demonstration to protest against the massification of tourism and housing prices on the island of Mallorca in Palma de Mallorca on May 25, 2024.

A woman holds a sign that says, “Enough!” as they take part in a demonstration to protest against excessive tourism and housing prices on the island of Mallorca in Palma de Mallorca on July 21, 2024.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez speaks in Madrid on January 8, 2025.
Sánchez’s radical plan to address the housing crisis was unveiled today and details 12 measures focused on reforming the construction industry, ensuring affordable rents and offering incentives to those who follow rental guidelines.
This includes the transfer of land to a new Public Housing Company which the government says it will use to build thousands of new affordable rental homes.
Sánchez stated that in the first half of this year the company will begin to add more than 30,000 homes to Sareb, around 13,000 with immediate effect.
The government also hopes to “rehabilitate” vacant homes to provide them with additional “affordable rents”, offering incentives to those who renovate flats and leave them available for an extended period.
It hopes that an income tax exemption for landlords who rent their homes based on the ‘Reference Price Index’ will encourage a healthier rental ecosystem.
In an attempt to ensure that Spaniards can access housing before wealthy non-EU citizens, the proposals also include a measure to ‘limit’ the purchase of homes by people who ‘do not reside in our country’.
This will be reinforced with regulations on fraud in seasonal rentals, discouraging those who illicitly seek to make the most of Spain’s lucrative tourist season.
‘The objective of all these measures is clear. “What we want is to protect citizens, find a better balance between tourism and investment, which are two key activities for our economy,” Sánchez said in the announcement.
“And also, logically, access to housing, which is a constitutional right of people and a legitimate objective of our Government when we say that we want to make it the fifth Pillar of the Welfare State.”

A protester holds a sign reading “The Canary Islands have a limit” as thousands of people march on Las Americas beach during a demonstration against mass tourism, in Arona, on the Spanish Canary island of Tenerife, October 20 of 2024.

Protesters in Alicante demonstrate against excess tourism in the Spanish city, in July 2024

A sign during a protest in Alicante says ‘our house is not the gringos’ patio’

It comes after protesters threw water guns at tourists eating at popular venues in Barcelona.
Sánchez assured that the greater power granted to the State to purchase property and land will be backed by a guarantee that guarantees that all homes built by the State remain public property indefinitely.
The objective of the ambitious plan is that ‘whatever is built and rehabilitated with public money always remains the property of the Spanish people and does not end up in the hands of vulture funds,’ he insisted.
The government hopes to mobilize around €6 billion in loans and guarantees from the ICO to help build an additional 25,000 new homes.
While building more housing, the government is also targeting private companies involved in unsustainable rental practices.
Sánchez has urged to prioritize residential use over tourism and has promised to introduce a tax reform “so that tourist apartments are taxed as what they are, a business.”
He said that ‘it is not fair that those who have three, four, five apartments for short-term rental pay less taxes than hotels or workers.’
Jaume Collboni, mayor of Barcelona, set a precedent with the radical decision to eliminate all short-term tourist apartment rentals from November 2028.
Companies like Airbnb have long been in the crosshairs of anti-tourism protesters, and residents fear that the abundance of landlords will rent them out for high rates.

Tenerife locals hold banners expressing concern about the impact of mass tourism, October 2024

A row of flats in Barcelona today. Many locals fear the impact of short-term rentals and foreigners buying homes for speculative purposes.

Anti-tourism graffiti in Barcelona has increased amid recent protests
In the six months to the end of June last year, during the busy summer period, 42.5 million international visitors traveled to the country.
In June alone, there was a 12% increase to 9 million as the busiest summer period progresses, according to the Spanish data agency INE.
Data shows that visitors are increasingly choosing to stay in rental apartments, rather than hotels, increasing demand for apartments and incentivizing landlords to purchase homes at the expense of residents.
The number of visitors to Spain in the first half of the year staying in this type of accommodation increased by 30%, while those staying in hotels increased by 11%.
The first major protest in Alicante took place last July, with hundreds of locals taking to the streets to express their concerns about overtourism.
Dozens of residents gathered in the central Plaza Toros with banners and flags reading “Get out of our neighborhoods,” “our house is not the gringos’ patio” and “fuck AirBnB” amid fears that local residents will be seen forced to leave their homes due to high prices and become trapped. in unstable jobs serving foreign visitors.
Salva, spokesperson for the organizing group, told MailOnline: “It is the administrations (city council, autonomous community, central government) that must take measures to put the needs of people living in the city at the forefront, against the wishes of those who visit the city.
‘We hope that the demonstration is the first step so that more people feel that it is legitimate to claim the right to live with dignity in our city, and to be able to unite to build a neighborhood movement that says that Alicante is not for sale.’

A sign reads ‘F*** AirBnB’, expressing frustration with the vacation home rental company.

Chains have been introduced on the roads of the town of Binibeca in Menorca to prevent visitors from invading the private spaces of residents at certain times

Critics say excess tourism has negatively impacted work and housing opportunities in Spain
Earlier this month, Barcelona residents surprisingly fired water guns at tourists enjoying dinner on a street popular with foreign visitors.
Under the motto ‘Enough! Let’s put limits on tourism’, some 2,800 people – according to the police – marched through a maritime neighborhood in Barcelona to demand a new economic model that reduces the millions of tourists who visit each year.
The rising cost of housing in Barcelona, up 68 percent in the last decade, is one of the movement’s main problems, along with the effects of tourism on local commerce and working conditions in the city of 1.6 million inhabitants.
Rents rose 18% in June from a year earlier in tourist cities such as Barcelona and Madrid, according to real estate website Idealista.
Could it be affected by the plans? Email your reaction to rory.tingle@mailonline.co.uk