Buying Property in Spain as a Non-EU Buyer in 2026: The 100% Tax Proposal and Life After the Golden Visa

If you hold a British, American, Canadian, Swiss or Gulf passport and you are looking at a home in the Málaga region, two headlines have probably reached you already. One says Spain wants to tax non-EU buyers at 100%. The other says the Golden Visa is gone. Both are rooted in fact, and both are routinely repeated without the detail that matters. This guide separates what is law today from what is a proposal, and what each means for a buyer who is serious about relocating here.

The short version

There is no 100% tax on non-EU buyers in Spain today. It was announced as a proposal in January 2025, a draft bill was reportedly submitted in June 2025, and by March 2026 it had not had a single reading or committee debate in Congress. It was also left out of the government's own housing package of January 2026. The Golden Visa, on the other hand, really has ended: since 3 April 2025 buying property no longer gives you a residence permit. If you plan to live here, your route to residence now runs through a visa that has nothing to do with the price of your home.

For most non-EU buyers that means the purchase itself is taxed exactly as it was before. What has changed is the order in which you should plan: residence first, then the purchase.

The 100% tax proposal: what was actually proposed

On 13 January 2025 Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez presented twelve housing measures. One of them was a tax of up to 100% of the property value for buyers who are neither EU or EEA citizens nor resident in Spain. The aim, as presented, was to cool demand in tight housing markets. Coverage at the time made it sound like a done deal. It was not.

Based on the draft as reported, the measure would apply only to:

• Individuals who are not EU or EEA nationals and who are not tax resident in Spain.
• Residential property bought on the resale market, which is taxed under the transfer tax (ITP).

New-build homes bought from a developer are taxed under VAT (IVA) and were reported to fall outside the proposal. Non-EU nationals who already live in Spain and are tax resident here would not be affected either. The Basque Country and Navarre have their own tax systems and were reported as excluded from direct application.

A proposal that stalls can come back in another shape. A lower rate, a different scope or a regional variant are all possible. Nobody can tell you with certainty what Spain will legislate in 2027, and I will not pretend otherwise. What you can do is understand which version of you would be affected and structure your plans so that they hold up either way.

Who would be affected, and what you pay today

The table below shows the main buyer profiles, whether the proposal as reported would touch them, and the tax you pay on a purchase in Andalucía today.

Notary, land registry and lawyer fees come on top in every scenario. The full breakdown is in our guide to taxes when buying property in Andalucía, and the planned ITP changes for 2027 are covered in our ITP guide.

The Golden Visa has closed. Residence now runs through other routes

Spain's investor residence permit through property, known as the Golden Visa, was abolished by Ley Orgánica 1/2025 with effect from 3 April 2025. Buying a home for €500,000 or more no longer gives you or your family a right to live here. If you read a listing or a sales brochure that still mentions it, that tells you something about how carefully the rest of the material was written.

For a non-EU buyer who wants to live in the Málaga region, the realistic routes are:

• Non-lucrative visa. For people who will not work in Spain. The financial test is 400% of IPREM for the main applicant, which came to €2,400 per month at the IPREM figure in force in 2025, plus 100% for each family member. Check the current figure with your lawyer before you apply.
• International teleworking visa, often called the digital nomad visa. For people employed by, or working for, companies outside Spain.
• Work, entrepreneur or highly qualified professional routes, for those who will build a business or take a position here.
• Family routes, where a spouse or partner holds EU citizenship.

A home you own, or a signed rental, is part of most applications as proof of accommodation. That is where the purchase and the visa meet. It is also why I advise clients to have an immigration lawyer look at the timeline before we reserve anything.

What non-EU owners pay once they own

The running costs are where the difference between EU and non-EU owners is real and already in force, regardless of any new proposal.

• Non-resident income tax (IRNR). If you are not tax resident in Spain, you pay tax on an imputed income from your property even if you never rent it out. That income is 1.1% or 2% of the cadastral value, depending on whether the value was revised. The rate is 24% for non-EU residents and 19% for EU and EEA residents. It is filed on Modelo 210.
• Rental income. Non-EU owners are taxed on the gross rental income, without deducting expenses. EU owners can deduct costs.
• Local taxes. IBI and the municipal waste charge apply to every owner.

Since Brexit, British owners fall into the non-EU column on all of the above. For a family that plans to live here most of the year, becoming tax resident often changes the picture completely, but residence brings its own obligations on worldwide income and assets. That is a conversation for a tax adviser who knows both your home country and Spain.

Time spent here: the 90 days rule and the new border systems

Owning a home in Spain does not change the Schengen rule for non-EU visitors without a visa: 90 days in any 180-day period. The EU Entry/Exit System is already in phased use at Spanish airports, Málaga included, and it records entries and exits digitally, so overstays become visible automatically. ETIAS, the travel authorisation for visa-exempt visitors, is expected to start with a soft launch in the last quarter of 2026 and should not become a boarding requirement before April 2027 at the earliest. If you intend to spend more than three months a year at your home here, a visa is not a formality, it is the plan.

Should you buy now or wait?

I cannot answer that for you, and neither can anyone who sells property. What I can do is show you how the decision changes depending on your situation.

You plan to relocate and become resident

The proposal as reported would not apply to you once you are tax resident. Your priority is the visa and the timing of your move. Work out when your residence starts, then plan the purchase around it. Buying before or after your residence date can make a difference, which we explain in our guide on buying before year end.

You want a second home and will stay non-resident

This is the group a revived proposal would target, but only on resale. A new build from a developer was reported as outside the scope. That does not make every new build the right choice. Off-plan purchases carry their own risks, from bank guarantees on deposits to delivery dates, which is why we wrote a separate guide on independent advice when buying new build.

You are already negotiating a resale home

Ask your lawyer whether the reservation and the arras contract should address a change in tax law between signing and completion. Most purchases in the region complete within weeks, not months, so the practical exposure is usually small. It is still worth a sentence in the contract. Our guide to the purchase contract and arras explains how those stages work.

How I work with non-EU buyers in Málaga

This is a question that comes up early in conversations with British, American and Gulf buyers. My answer is always the same: start with the facts that are certain, and keep the uncertain ones from driving the decision. In practice that means four things.

1. We map your residence plan with an independent immigration lawyer before we shortlist homes.
2. We arrange your NIE number early, because nothing moves without it.
3. We compare resale and new build on the merits of the home and the total cost, not on headlines.
4. If you need financing, we check what Spanish banks currently offer non-residents. Our guide to mortgages for non-residents covers loan-to-value and documents.

Aluma represents the buyer, not the seller and not the developer. I live and work in Málaga, I speak English, Dutch and Spanish, and I would rather tell you not to buy yet than sell you something that does not fit your plan.