Spain plans to tackle housing crisis with 100% tax on homes bought by foreigners


Spain plans to tackle housing crisis with 100% tax on homes bought by foreigners

PUBLISHED TUE, JAN 14 20255:01 AM EST Spain is planning to impose a tax of 100% on homes bought by non-EU residents as it looks to tackle an entrenched housing crisis in the country. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Monday proposed a package of measures aimed at alleviating a shortage of homes, high rents and rising house prices across the country, with foreign home buyers and mass tourism seen as contributing to housing pressures. Speaking at a forum on the matter, socialist leader Sanchez said access to housing was one of the main challenges facing Spanish society and that there was a risk of division among communities. “The West faces a decisive challenge: not to become a society divided into two classes, that of rich owners and poor tenants,” he said, noting that housing prices in Europe had increased by 48% in the last decade, almost twice as much as household income. “We are facing a serious problem, with enormous social and economic implications, which requires a decisive response from society as a whole, with public institutions at the forefront,” he said, according to comments published by the government.