The Spanish Prime Minister, the socialist Pedro Sánchez, announced on Sunday that he wanted to ban the purchase of housing in Spain by non-European investors in order to fight against the housing crisis that his country is going through.
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“We are going to propose prohibiting non-EU foreigners who do not reside (in Spain), neither themselves nor their families, from buying (housing) in our country” because “they are only speculating with this housing” , he declared during a meeting of his party in Extremadura, in the west of the country.
The announcement of this new proposal comes as the socialist, in power since 2018, already detailed on Monday a series of measures intended to fight the housing crisis.
He notably announced an acceleration in the construction of social housing and an increase in taxation applied to the very numerous tourist accommodations in this country, which is the second tourist destination in the world behind France.
On this occasion, he also mentioned a tax of up to 100% of the price on purchases of housing by non-European investors. These measures will have to be debated and voted on by Parliament, where the government is in the minority.
-“In 2023 alone, non-residents not coming from a country that is part of the EU bought around 27,000 houses and apartments in Spain,” he pointed out on Monday.
Taking inspiration from Canada and Denmark
The Spanish Prime Minister says he takes inspiration from Canada, where the government prohibits the purchase of housing by non-resident foreigners, or from Denmark, where buying property for a non-resident foreigner is almost impossible.
The Spanish Prime Minister had already passed a flagship law on housing in May 2023, providing for an increase in the construction of social housing, rent control in tense areas and penalties for owners leaving their homes unoccupied.
But this text has not at this stage made it possible to stem the rise in rents, which increased by another 11% last year, according to the real estate portal Idealista.
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