Buying property in Spain as a foreigner: the full process and costs
The number that should shape your budget
Two identical €1 million homes can cost €65,000 apart to buy, because in Spain you pay for where you buy, not just what you buy.[1] That gap has nothing to do with the house. It is the tax and fee regime of the region the property sits in, settled before you have negotiated a cent off the asking price.
For a foreigner buying property in Spain, that reframes the whole exercise. The asking price is the part everyone fixes on, and the part you can least change at the top of the market. The acquisition cost sitting on top of it is larger than most people budget for, and it moves with the region. Get that number right before you offer and the rest of the purchase stops feeling opaque.
Same home, different region, €65,000 apart
The €65,000 is a national spread: the distance between the cheapest and the most expensive autonomous community for the same resale purchase.[1] Most of it is transfer tax, the Impuesto de Transmisiones Patrimoniales (ITP), which every region sets for itself, plus notary, land registry and legal fees that scale with the price.
So a figure from one region tells you nothing about another, and a flat “about 10 to 13% on top” is a guess rather than a budget. For the Costa del Sol the number you want is the Andalucían one. ITP here is a flat 7% of the declared price, Spain’s version of stamp duty but a single rate instead of banded. On a €1 million resale that is €70,000 in transfer tax alone, before notary, registry and your lawyer. Budget roughly 9 to 10% all in on an Andalucían resale, or 13 to 14% on a new build, where 10% VAT plus 1.2% stamp duty replace the 7%, as at October 2026, and confirm the current rate with your lawyer before you sign.
The purchase, start to keys
The process looks intimidating from the outside and is really a fixed sequence. In order:
- Get your NIE, the foreigner’s tax identification number. It works like a National Insurance number for non-Spaniards, except you need it to sign almost anything: the deposit contract, the deeds, the bank account, the utilities.
- Due diligence. Your lawyer pulls the nota simple, the land registry extract, which is like checking the title register before exchange, and verifies the licences and that the property carries no debt.
- The arras, a private deposit contract. This is roughly the point of exchange in England, with your deposit at stake if you walk away.
- The notary deed, the escritura. A state-appointed notary reads and witnesses the signing; your own lawyer, not the notary, has done the conveyancing.
Expect to prove where your funds come from along the way. Spain is tightening its anti-money-laundering rules, and clean documentation of money moving into the country keeps the signing on schedule.[2] If you are based in the UK or Northern Europe and cannot keep flying over, a Power of Attorney lets the whole sequence, NIE and deed signing included, run while you stay at home.
Do you really need a lawyer and a gestor?
A gestor is an administrative agent who handles Spanish official paperwork and filings; a lawyer handles the legal checks. A capable buyer’s instinct is to handle both themselves and save the fee. The reason not to is simple: parts of this you cannot verify yourself. As Belen Battaglia, a partner working with foreign buyers, puts it, “the only way the buyer has to check that the seller owns the property and can legally sell it is through the land registry extract.” Reading that extract correctly, in Spanish, is the job you are paying for.
Lauree and Chris, expats who went through it, reached the same conclusion about the paperwork: “it’s worth the expense to have a company help you.” The fee is small against the loss it guards against, which is completing on a property the seller could not cleanly sell. Make it your own lawyer, not one introduced by the seller’s agent. Their incentive is that the sale completes; yours is that it completes safely.
The costs that keep coming after completion
The acquisition cost is one-off. These are not:
- Non-resident income tax, an annual charge calculated on the property’s cadastral (rateable) value, due even if you never let the place out.
- IBI, the municipal property tax, billed yearly by the town hall.
- Community fees, where the property sits in a development with shared grounds, security or a pool.
- Utility standing charges and local rubbish collection.
None of these is large on its own. Together they are the real annual cost of holding the home, and they are the line buyers most often leave out of the plan.
Build your regional budget before you offer
Before you make any offer, build one figure: the total region-specific cost of this purchase. Taxes and fees for this region, on this price, plus the recurring charges for a full year of ownership. Not a percentage borrowed from a national average, and not the asking price with a round number added on.
A buyer who arrives with that figure negotiates from a position of control, and is never caught out at the notary.
If you are weighing a purchase on the Costa del Sol and want the Andalucían numbers run against a specific property, we are happy to talk it through.
This article is provided solely for informational purposes, reflecting Northern Estate’s interpretation of current legal frameworks and market practices, which are inherently subject to change. It does not purport to offer, nor should it be interpreted as offering, professional investment, financial, or real estate advice. Individuals considering any form of investment or financial planning in relation to luxury real estate should consult with a qualified professional advisor to tailor advice specifically to their circumstances. Northern Estates has endeavored to ensure the accuracy of the information herein; however, we cannot accept liability for any errors or omissions.
Sources
[1] Spanish Property Insight (2026) ‘Huge difference in property buying costs across Spain’, Spanish Property Insight, citing CasaTab analysis of regional purchase costs. Available at: https://www.spanishpropertyinsight.com/2026/09/04/huge-difference-in-property-buying-costs-across-spain/
[2] Gobierno de España, ‘Referencia del Consejo de Ministros’, La Moncloa, 28 July 2026. Available at: https://www.lamoncloa.gob.es/consejodeministros/referencias/Paginas/2026/20260728-referencia-rueda-de-prensa-ministros.aspx