Buying a house in Spain: the complete cost overview

If you buy a resale property, you pay transfer tax (Impuesto de Transmisiones Patrimoniales, ITP). Since 2021, Andalusia applies a flat rate of 7% on the purchase price or on the land registry's fiscal reference value, if that's higher than the purchase price.

If you buy from a developer, you don't pay ITP but 10% VAT (IVA) on the purchase price, plus 1.2% stamp duty (Actos Jurídicos Documentados, AJD) in Andalusia. For a building plot or a commercial unit, 21% VAT applies instead of 10%.

The notary works with a statutory tariff, in practice around 0.5 to 1% of the purchase price. Registering the property in the property register (Registro de la Propiedad) costs roughly 0.3 to 0.5%.

A lawyer who guides the purchase and checks the file typically charges around 1% of the purchase price plus VAT. This isn't a mandatory cost like the notary, but we always recommend it: the notary checks the deed, not your interests.

For a resale property worth €400,000 in Andalusia, you'll pay roughly: 7% ITP (€28,000), around 0.6% notary (€2,400), around 1.21% legal fees (€4,840), and a fixed land registry fee of around €650. Total: roughly €35,900, or nearly 9% on top of the purchase price.

For new build of the same value, 10% VAT (€40,000) and 1.5% stamp duty (€6,000) replace the ITP, with the same notary, land registry, and legal fees on top. Total: roughly €53,900, or just over 13%.

Besides the one-off purchase costs, you pay annual municipal property tax (IBI), and as a non-resident you file non-resident income tax (IRNR, modelo 210), even if you don't rent out the property. If you live in an apartment complex, community fees are added for the upkeep of shared facilities.

We lay out these costs for you before you sign, so you have a realistic total budget and don't run into surprises afterwards.

Beyond the items above, there are smaller costs that add up. Think of the gestoría (an administrative office that handles tax filings and registrations on your behalf, a few hundred euros), a sworn translation of documents if you can't attend the notary yourself, and the cost of an international bank transfer for the purchase sum, easily a few hundred to a few thousand euros depending on the amount and the bank.

Home insurance from the day of transfer, and the first month of utilities and community fees, are also commonly left out of the initial budget. None of these items is large on its own, but together they count towards your total budget.

If you finance (part of) the purchase with a Spanish mortgage, no extra transfer tax or stamp duty is due on the mortgage deed itself: since the 2019 mortgage law, the bank covers most of those formalisation costs. You still pay the valuation yourself, typically €300 to €600.

Spanish banks typically finance up to 70% of the purchase price for non-residents. For how that works in practice, which documents you'll need, and the difference between fixed and variable rates, see our article on getting a mortgage in Spain as a foreigner.