Spain‘s government is going ahead with a controversial plan to slam Brits with a 100% tax on holiday homes in order to tackle a growing housing crisis.
Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez‘s Socialist party presented the plan to the country’s Parliament yesterday, in which non-EU residents would have to pay double for properties in the country.
The bill aims to promote ‘measures that enable access to housing, since we are facing one of the largest problems our society is currently confronted with’, according to a copy of the draft legislation seen by Bloomberg.
Brits are the biggest buyers of Spanish properties outside of native Spaniards, making up 8.2% of deals.
The plans were first announced by Sanchez in January, amid massive malcontent over rising prices and dwindling housing stock that many in Spain felt was caused by foreign buyers snapping up homes.
In 2023 alone, non-EU residents bought 27,000 properties in Spain.
The bill, if passed, won’t affect businesspeople or professional workers.
But it would increase VAT on short term rentals and also increase taxes on publicly listed real estate investment trusts, as well as apply a tax on houses that sit empty.
The plans were first announced by Sanchez in January, amid massive malcontent over rising prices and dwindling housing stock
Thousands of people protest against the tourism model and mass tourism in the Canary Islands in Tenefire, Spain on May 18, 2025
An aerial view of people gathering to protest soaring housing prices as part of a nationwide demonstration organized by tenant unions under the slogan ‘End the Housing Business’ in Madrid, Spain on April 05, 2025
It is not currently known whether Sanchez will be able to pass the law through the country’s parliament.
He has, since forming his latest government in 2023, struggled to pass legislation.
The Spanish leader is currently the head of a minority coalition, and will need the support of at least eight parties to pass laws, something that he rarely achieves.
It comes after Spain ordered Airbnb to remove more than 65,000 holiday homes from its platform as part of a crackdown on illegal listings.
The country’s Consumer Rights Ministry said the listings violated existing rules, according to Reuters.
Many of the banned listings do not include a licence number and some do not specify whether they’re run by an individual or corporation, said the Ministry.
Pablo Bustinduy, Spain’s Consumer Rights Minister, said: ‘No more excuses. Enough with protecting those who make a business out of the right to housing in our country.’
The minister said his goal was to end the ‘lack of control’ and ‘illegality’ in the holiday rental industry.
Spain is currently facing a housing crisis as construction has failed to keep up with demand.
According to official data, Spain had about 321,000 homes listed as holiday rentals in November 2024.
That’s a 15 per cent increase from 2020 while there are thought to be many more that operate without an official licence.
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