What would Spain do without foreigners and foreign investment? Well it appears that foreigners are all assumed to be extremely wealthy and should therefore be taxed more to solve the country’s housing problem. And foreigners re coming under attack from all political sides. The Socialist central government coalition has been talking about higher taxes on third party property buyers such as Britons or Americans for the past year, although it’s just talk at the moment.
And the left-wing party Més per Mallorca has recently presented an initiative in the Balearic Parliament to allow municipalities in the Balearics to temporarily restrict the sale of homes to non-residents, legal entities and for second homes. The purpose of this bill is to guarantee the residential use of properties and curb speculation in the islands. Now the far right party Vox has jumped on the bandwagon.
Vox has submitted a proposal to Congress in Madrid to increase taxes on foreign property buyers. The money raised would be used to fund tax breaks for Spanish citizens and to support the construction of affordable housing. The proposal is part of a motion presented by the party, led by Santiago Abascal, which aims to “stop the massive purchase of homes” by foreign investors. Vox argues that buying a home “has become an impossible dream for young people and Spanish families”, while foreign capital “takes over the market and pushes up prices”.
The party points out that the number of young homeowners in Spain has fallen from 56% to 27% in the past 20 years. Meanwhile, the share of homes bought by foreigners has risen from 7.6% in 2007 to 19.3% in 2025. Vox says this shows “how Spaniards are being priced out of their own country”.
To tackle the issue, Vox proposes several measures to “protect Spaniards’ access to housing” from what it describes as property speculation and large-scale purchases by foreign funds and wealthy investors.
In addition to higher taxes for foreigners, the party wants the government to exempt Spanish citizens from paying certain taxes when buying or reinvesting in their main home. Until that happens, Vox suggests allowing buyers to delay paying these taxes for up to 15 years without interest, to make home ownership easier. Finally, the party calls for the complete abolition of the Inheritance and Gift Tax across Spain, particularly when the property being passed on is intended to be used as a main residence.