Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez announced measures to address the housing crisis in Spain.
One of the most important measures is the imposition of a tax of up to 100% on the value of those who are not residents of non-EU countries who buy a house in Spain. In short, British and American (among other non-EU nationalities), who are the largest home buyers in Spain, will face an exorbitant burden.
“The West faces a decisive challenge: not to become a society divided into two classes, the rich landlords and the poor tenants,” the Spanish prime minister said characteristically.
“In 2023 alone, citizens from outside the European Union bought 27,000 houses and apartments. Not to live in them, but mainly to speculate. To make money from them. Something that, in the context of the shortages we are experiencing, we cannot afford,” Sanchez stressed.
Tax equalization with hotels on short-term rentals
A second measure is the equalization of the tax burden with hotels for those who have three or more short-term rental apartments.
“It is not fair that those who have three, four or five apartments as short-term rentals pay less tax than hotels,” he stressed.
The direction here is that tourist apartments should be taxed as a business. To this end, within the framework of the new European VAT directive, a tax will be imposed on tourist rentals equivalent to other economic activities.
Houses with affordable rents
The third important measure is the provision of affordable housing by the newly established Public Housing Company.
The State has transferred more than 3,300 homes and almost 2 million square meters of residential land to the Public Housing Company, for the construction of thousands of subsidized apartments with affordable rents.
Throughout the first half of the year, this company will begin to absorb the more than 30,000 homes currently owned by SAREB (the Spanish government’s bad bank, which was burdened with bad loans), 13,000 of which will be taken over immediately.
A legal mechanism will also be approved so that the new Public Housing Company has priority in the purchase of homes and land. All homes, moreover, built by the State will remain in public ownership indefinitely.
Among the 12 measures being considered are:
** Financial assistance will be provided to rehabilitate empty homes so that they can be made available at affordable rent.
** The government is promoting a 100% exemption from personal income tax for homeowners who rent their homes according to the Reference Price Index, without having to be located in areas declared to be under pressure.
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