Spain's 100% tax on non-EU home buyers: what happened to the proposal by 2026

In January 2025, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced a measure that spread through global media almost instantly: a tax of up to 100% of a property's value for non-resident buyers from outside the EU. The headline was often repeated as if the tax already applied. Here is what was actually proposed, and where it stands nearly two years later.

What was actually proposed in January 2025

The measure was unveiled against a backdrop of record foreign demand: in 2024, non-residents bought around 90,000 properties in Spain worth roughly €22.5 billion, and the government framed the tax as a way to reduce competition from higher-income foreign buyers amid a domestic housing shortage. The bill was formally submitted to parliament on 22 May 2025.

Status as of September 2026

Eighteen months after submission, the bill has never once been debated in parliament — Sánchez's government lacks the votes to move it forward, and as of 2026 the initiative is effectively stalled: not formally rejected, but with no scheduled date and no finalised text. That means the 100% tax has not been enacted, is not law, and does not apply to any transaction — a non-EU buyer purchasing property in Spain today still pays the standard taxes: property transfer tax or VAT on new builds (roughly 6–10% depending on the region), stamp duty, and the usual, higher non-resident rate of income tax on rental income.

Spain has, separately, already closed a different channel for foreign capital: the golden visa via property investment was abolished as of 3 April 2025, and the "buy a home, get residency" route no longer exists there.

A sharp contrast with one market that has not moved

While the Spanish proposal has spent over two years failing to reach a vote, Dubai's purchase-tax structure for a foreign buyer has not changed in years and remains simple: a one-off 4% Dubai Land Department registration fee — full stop. No transfer tax beyond that fee, no VAT on housing, no tax on rental income or on capital gains at sale. The contrast holds against other jurisdictions too: Singapore levies a 60% surcharge on a foreign buyer, while Hong Kong scrapped its equivalent surcharges entirely in 2024 — three very different models applied to the same category of buyer.

What it means for anyone weighing both markets

Even if the Spanish bill eventually passes a vote, by the government's own framing it was designed as a deterrent rather than a revenue measure — its goal is fewer such transactions, not more tax collected. An investor choosing between the two markets today should weigh Dubai's already-in-force, predictable tax model against a Spanish proposal that may never become law, rather than a hypothetical one.

For Spain's market after the golden visa closure, see our Spain market guide; for the purchase-tax comparison across Dubai, Singapore and Hong Kong, see "What a foreign buyer pays to enter".