I get asked about this one almost every week, usually by someone who has read a headline and half-decided the dream is off. So let me be straight with you from the first line: as things stand in 2026, there is no 100% tax on property bought by British buyers in Spain. What there is, is a proposal — and a proposal is a very different animal from a law.
Where the headline came from
In early 2025 the Spanish government floated a measure aimed at non-EU buyers — which, since Brexit, includes UK citizens. It was described in the press as a tax of up to 100% on the value of a property bought by non-residents from outside the EU. The framing was about housing affordability: the idea being to cool demand from overseas buyers and keep homes within reach of local people.
That is a real thing that was said. It made a lot of noise, and understandably so. But noise is where it has largely stayed.
Proposed is not the same as in force
Here is the distinction that the headlines skip, and it matters enormously:
- Proposed / announced (not binding on you): a 100% purchase tax on non-EU, non-resident buyers. Floated by the government in early 2025 as a housing measure. No agreed detail on who exactly it would catch, what exemptions might apply, or whether it survives the process at all.
- In force today (the numbers that actually apply): the ordinary purchase taxes — 7% ITP on a resale in Andalucía, and 10% IVA plus 1.2% AJD on a new build. Unchanged. These are what a British buyer pays right now.
An announcement is a starting position, not a settled outcome. For a measure like this to become law it would have to pass Spain’s parliament — and the government does not command a simple majority there, so nothing is a formality. Along the way the detail gets fought over: the rate, who it applies to, the exemptions, the carve-outs, whether it targets purchases at all or is reshaped into something else entirely. Plenty of floated measures never reach the statute book in anything like their original form. Some never reach it at all.
A proposal is not a law. Until it passes parliament, it is a headline — not a bill you have to pay.
What this means if you’re thinking about buying
The taxes you would actually pay today are the ones I set out, line by line, in what a Costa del Sol purchase really costs. Those numbers are real, current, and unchanged by the headline. If you buy this year, that is the arithmetic — not a doubling of the price.
Could the picture change? Of course it could. Tax policy moves, and I would never promise you it won’t. But you make a good decision on facts, not on fear — and the fact today is that the frightening number is a proposal, not a cost.
How I’ll handle it with you
My job is to tell you what is actually on the books versus what has merely been announced, and to keep the two apart when the news blurs them. So here is my commitment on this:
- I’ll always separate enacted law from announced intention — and say plainly which one we’re looking at.
- If this measure, or any measure, does progress towards law, I’ll tell you where it has actually got to, not where a headline says it is.
- For your own position — residency, tax status, how any future change might touch you specifically — I’ll point you to a qualified Spanish tax adviser, because that is their call to make, not mine.
Don’t let a headline make a life decision for you. Watch the actual legislation, take advice on your own circumstances, and buy — or wait — on what’s real. If you’d like me to walk you through where things genuinely stand before you commit to anything, that is exactly what the buying service is for, and you can book a chat whenever suits.
Dated guidance (2026); tax policy changes — always confirm the current law with a qualified Spanish tax adviser.
What this relates to
