Real Estate
Spain Property Firms Slam Sanchez Bid to Slug Foreigners on Tax
- Plan to tax overseas home purchases seen as grandstanding
- Spanish premier faces pressure to act following protests
This article is for subscribers only.
Spain’s plans to discourage foreigners from buying residential property will likely hit resort towns and developers of luxury homes, but will do little to overcome the housing shortage that’s squeezing locals.
Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez shocked the Spanish real estate sector this week with a proposal to slap a tax of up to 100% on properties bought by non-residents from outside the European Union. Even before the plan confronts Spain’s fragmented parliament — where it could be diluted or killed — it was dismissed as ineffective grandstanding.