Buying property in Spain: every tax you'll pay, explained
Updated: July 15, 2026
The sticker price is only the start. Between transfer taxes, stamp duty and fees, buying a home in Spain typically costs 7% to 14% more than the advertised price — as little as 4-6% in the Basque Country or Ceuta and Melilla — and which taxes you pay depends on one question: is the home new or resale?
Resale homes: the ITP
Second-hand homes pay the ITP (Impuesto de Transmisiones Patrimoniales), a transfer tax whose rate each of Spain’s 17 autonomous communities sets (in Ceuta and Melilla the state rules apply, with a 50% relief). The spread is enormous:
| Region (examples) | General rate 2026 |
|---|---|
| Ceuta and Melilla | 6% with a 50% relief → 3% effective |
| Basque Country | 4% (homes) |
| Madrid | 6% |
| Canary Islands | 6.5% |
| Andalusia | 7% |
| Valencian Community | 9% (11% above €1M; 10% before 1-6-2026) |
| Catalonia | 10-13% (progressive brackets) |
| Balearics | 8-13% (progressive brackets) |
On a €300,000 home, that’s the difference between €18,000 in Madrid and €30,000+ in Barcelona. The full picture — every region, every reduced rate, with legal citations — is in our ITP guide by region, and the calculator below applies your personal reductions (young buyer, large family, disability…).
Two rules apply everywhere: the buyer pays, and since 2022 the taxable base is the cadastral reference value or the price if higher — so a “creative” low price in the deed doesn’t lower the tax. Navarre and the Basque Country apply their own foral valuation rules.
New builds: VAT + stamp duty
Buying from a developer, you don’t pay ITP. Instead:
- VAT (IVA) at 10% of the price (4% for special-regime subsidised housing; in the Canary Islands the local IGIC applies instead, and in Ceuta and Melilla the IPSI).
- AJD stamp duty on the purchase deed, set by each region — generally between 0.5% and 1.5%.
So a new build usually carries a heavier tax load than a resale in the same region — around 11-12% combined versus, say, Madrid’s 6% ITP.
The costs that aren’t taxes
On top of the tax bill: notary and land registry fees (regulated, roughly €900-€1,400 combined for typical prices), an agency (gestoría) if a mortgage is involved, and the bank’s appraisal. Get the full itemised figure for your case with the purchase costs calculator.
If you’re financing the purchase, good news: since Ley 5/2019 the bank pays the mortgage loan’s own costs (its notary, registry, agency and stamp duty) — you only pay the appraisal. Details in who pays the AJD.
And after you buy (and when you sell)
Ownership brings annual taxes — the municipal IBI and, for non-residents, an imputed income tax — covered in non-resident property taxes. When you eventually sell, the seller normally bears the municipal plusvalía on the land’s value increase — though when the seller is non-resident, the buyer must pay it as “substitute taxpayer” and usually withholds the amount from the price. Non-resident sellers also face a 3% retention on the price, credited against their capital gains tax.