Non-residents from outside the EU bought some 23,000 houses and flats in Spain in 2023. Read more at straitstimes.com.

Spanish prime minister Pedro Sanchez will propose a ban on people from outside the European Union buying homes in the country, as part of a broader attempt to confront a housing crisis.

MADRID: Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez proposed on Sunday to ban people outside the EU from buying housing

A tax of up to 100 percent on Spanish property deals by non-EU nationals living outside the country is one of the leftist government's flagship proposals to tackle a housing crisis. A total of 638,552 property deals were sealed that year,

Spain is planning a raft of measures to address its brewing housing crisis, including an up to 100% tax on properties bought by people who are neither citizens nor residents of the European Union. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced the plan this week to tackle housing affordability and high rents in the Southern European nation.

The move came as Sanchez’s Socialist-led government grapples with growing concerns over rising home prices nationwide. It was part of a broader set of measures, including a pledge to provide state-backed guarantees for specific rentals and the transfer of thousands of homes owned by the national bad bank to a newly established housing agency.

Spain’s government will seek to limit the number of houses sold to foreigners by significantly raising the taxes they pay.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced that non-EU residents could be forced to pay up to 100% tax on the value of their properties.