Spain

Spain is here as a market from which the very thing most people bought it for has just been removed. The residence-by-investment route — the golden visa — was abolished, with the law taking effect on 3 April 2025. There is no longer a "buy a home, receive a status" path into Spain. Applications filed before that date run out under the old rules; new ones are not accepted.

None of this affects the purchase itself: there is no nationality restriction, and a non-resident buys on ordinary terms. Technically an NIE — the foreigner identification number — is required; without it there is no bank account and no deed before a notary. A formality, but one with a lead time, and it is arranged in advance.

The tax arithmetic for a non-resident from outside the EU is harsher than commonly assumed. Rental income of an EU or EEA resident is taxed at nineteen per cent with expenses deductible; for a non-resident from outside the EU it is twenty-four per cent of the gross, with no deduction of expenses at all. The difference is in the base, not the rate, and it moves a model further than five percentage points would suggest.

The third layer is regional and concerns short-term letting. The tourist licence is issued not by the state but by the autonomous community and the municipality, and in the most interesting places it is either not issued or being withdrawn: Barcelona has announced an end to tourist licences for flats, and the Balearics operate a moratorium. Buying an apartment for nightly letting without checking the regime at that specific address is the most common mistake on this market.

We hold no transaction data of our own for Spain and do not invent it. What is here is the rules and the structure; figures live in the videos, where they carry a date.

The caveat: The golden visa was closed on 3 April 2025 — buying property in Spain confers no status.