Buying Property in Spain as an American: The Complete 2026 Guide

Short answer: an American can buy property in Spain on the same terms as a Spaniard. There is no restriction on foreign ownership, no residency requirement and no permit to obtain. What there is, is a completely different transaction architecture: no escrow, no title company, no title insurance, no MLS, no financing contingency by default, and a notary who is a public official rather than your attorney. Get a Spanish tax number (NIE), sign a power of attorney before you leave the United States, and budget roughly 10–13% on top of the price. You can complete the entire purchase without ever setting foot in Spain.

Over the last two years the profile of the clients walking into this office has changed. Alongside the Swedes and Norwegians who have been buying on the Costa Blanca for four decades, we now regularly advise Americans — people relocating for retirement, remote workers, dual nationals reconnecting with family roots, and investors who have run the numbers on a €300,000 apartment in Alfaz del Pi against a $900,000 condo in Florida. They arrive with a mental model of a real estate transaction built entirely in the United States, and almost every piece of that model has to be taken apart.

This guide is written specifically for that reader. It assumes you know what escrow, earnest money, title insurance and a HUD-1 are, and it explains what Spain does instead. It is not a generic “buying in Spain” article translated from Spanish.

Contents

• Ten ways a Spanish closing is not an American closing
• The translation table: your vocabulary in Spanish terms
• The purchase, step by step
• Getting your NIE from the United States
• The power of attorney: buying without flying
• Bank accounts, wiring dollars and proving where the money came from
• Financing: what a Spanish mortgage looks like to an American
• Closing costs in 2026, with real numbers
• The Spanish taxes you will pay every year
• What the IRS still wants from you
• Can you actually live there? Visas, 90/180 and ETIAS
• The “100% tax on non-EU buyers”: what is actually true
• What happens to the property when you die
• Seven mistakes we see Americans make
• Frequently asked questions
• Official sources

Ten ways a Spanish closing is not an American closing

1. There is no escrow. No neutral third party holds the funds while conditions are satisfied. On signing day, money moves directly from you to the seller, normally by cheque bancario — a bank draft drawn by a Spanish bank — handed across the notary’s table, or by same-day transfer executed in the notary’s presence. In the interim period between contract and completion, the deposit is held either by the selling agency, by the seller, or — the arrangement we prefer and recommend — in a lawyer’s client account. Choosing who holds your deposit is a decision with real consequences, and in Spain it is a decision, not a default.

2. There is no title company and title insurance is rare. Your protection comes from a different mechanism: the nota simple from the Land Registry, the notary’s obligation to request an updated registry check on the day of signing, and the principle of fe pública registral in article 34 of the Mortgage Law, under which a good-faith purchaser who buys from the registered owner for value and registers the acquisition is protected against defects not appearing on the register. Title insurance policies do exist in Spain and can be bought, but the standard transaction does not use them. The equivalent work is done by your lawyer before signature, not by an insurer afterwards.

3. The notary is not your attorney. This is the single point Americans most often get wrong. A Spanish notario is not a notary public who stamps signatures. He or she is a law graduate who has passed one of the hardest public competitive examinations in the country, holds a public office, drafts the deed, verifies identity and capacity, checks the registry, confirms the means of payment and controls the legality of the operation. The notary is rigorously impartial. He does not represent you, does not negotiate for you, does not review your private contract before you sign it, and will not tell you that the price is too high or that the terrace was built without a licence. You need your own lawyer, and unlike in most US states, that is not an optional extra.

4. Your deposit is probably not refundable. The standard Spanish pre-contract is the contrato de arras penitenciales under article 1454 of the Civil Code, typically 10% of the price. If you walk away, you lose the deposit. If the seller walks away, the seller pays you double. There is no financing contingency, no inspection contingency and no appraisal contingency unless your lawyer writes them into the contract. American buyers routinely sign these documents assuming the US default of a refundable earnest money deposit and discover otherwise when their mortgage application is declined. Every contingency you want must be drafted in, expressly, before you sign.

5. There is no MLS. Spain has no single multiple listing service. The same property is frequently marketed by six different agencies, sometimes at six different prices, sometimes with different square-metre figures. Agencies are not licensed in most of Spain, there is no fiduciary duty to the buyer, and the agent is generally paid by the seller out of the price — which does not stop the same agent from telling you they are working for you. Buyer’s agents in the American sense exist but are the exception.

6. Home inspections are not customary. No one will hand you an inspection report. You can and should commission one: the professional is an arquitecto técnico or aparejador, and a structural and installations survey on a resale villa typically costs €400–€900. On any property over thirty years old, or with a pool, an extension or a converted basement, this is money well spent.

7. Unpaid community fees follow the property, not the seller. Under article 9.1.e) of the Horizontal Property Law, the property itself answers for community charges falling due in the year of acquisition and the three preceding calendar years. If the seller owes the comunidad de propietarios four years of fees, you inherit a substantial part of that debt with the apartment. The certificate of no debt from the community administrator is not a formality.

8. The purchase tax is paid by the buyer and it is large. There is no US-style transfer tax of a fraction of a percent. On a resale property in the Valencian Community you pay 9% of the value in transfer tax. That single line item usually exceeds every other closing cost combined.

9. Registration is not compulsory, but you always do it. Recording the deed at the Land Registry is technically voluntary in Spain. It is also what converts your ownership from a contractual right into a right effective against the world. Nobody sensible skips it.

10. Cadastre and Land Registry are two separate institutions that frequently disagree. The Registry (Ministry of Justice) publishes who owns what and what charges exist. The Cadastre (Ministry of Finance) describes the physical property for tax purposes. They are independent, and the square metres, the pool and the extension often appear in one and not the other. Reconciling them before you buy is one of the standard checks — we have written a separate guide on exactly this.

The translation table: your vocabulary in Spanish terms

The purchase, step by step

Weeks 0–2 — Preparation from the United States. Apply for your NIE. Instruct a lawyer. Sign a power of attorney if you do not intend to fly over for signature. Get your funds positioned. Everything in this phase can be done from your kitchen table in Denver.

Weeks 2–6 — Search and offer. View properties, negotiate. Before you sign anything or hand over any money, your lawyer requests the nota simple, checks the cadastre, verifies the planning position with the town hall, confirms the energy certificate and the occupancy licence, and asks the community administrator for a debt certificate.

Week 6 — Reservation and arras. Agencies commonly ask for a reservation deposit of €3,000–€6,000 to take the property off the market. Have the reservation document reviewed first: many of them are drafted so that the deposit is lost in circumstances that would surprise you. The contrato de arras follows, usually with 10% down and a completion date 30–60 days out.

Weeks 7–12 — Due diligence and completion. Mortgage processing if applicable, final registry check, preparation of the bank draft, and signature before the notary. Utilities, community and IBI are apportioned at the table. You leave with an authorised copy of the deed and the keys.

Weeks 12–20 — After signature. Transfer tax is filed and paid within 30 working days. The deed is registered. Utility contracts and direct debits are changed into your name. Your gestoría or lawyer handles all of it.

A realistic total is eight to twelve weeks from offer to keys, faster on a cash purchase, slower with a Spanish mortgage.

Getting your NIE from the United States

The NIE is a foreigner’s identification number. You cannot sign a purchase deed, pay Spanish tax, open a Spanish bank account or contract utilities without one. It is not a residence permit and it does not give you any right to live in Spain; it is purely an identifier, closest in function to an ITIN.

Americans have three routes:

At a Spanish consulate in the United States. There are consulates general in Washington DC, New York, Boston, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Miami, New Orleans and San Juan. You submit form EX-15 stating in Spanish the economic reason for the request — buying property is a valid reason — together with form 790 code 012, your passport with a photocopy, and proof that you live in that consulate’s district. The fee is around $12, payable in cash or money order, and the consulate in Washington issues in roughly 20 to 30 days, sending the number by email. Requirements and appointment systems vary by consulate, so check the specific one covering your state.

Through a representative in Spain. Your lawyer applies at the National Police on your behalf under a power of attorney that expressly authorises it. This is the route most of our American clients take, because the power of attorney they need for the purchase anyway can carry the NIE authority as well. Timing in Alicante province is usually two to four weeks.

In person in Spain. Possible, but it requires a police appointment (cita previa), which in the busy coastal provinces can be genuinely difficult to obtain during the summer.

Every purchaser needs their own NIE. A married couple buying jointly needs two.

The power of attorney: buying without flying

This is the section most American clients come to us for, so it deserves the detail.

A Spanish poder notarial lets a person you name — normally your lawyer — sign the purchase deed, apply for your NIE, open a bank account, accept the mortgage, sign the utility contracts and file the taxes, all in your name and in your absence. Used properly, it means you buy a house in Spain without taking a single day off work. Used carelessly, it is a document that lets someone else dispose of your assets. Both things are true, which is why the drafting matters.

Route one: the Spanish consulate in the United States

Your Spanish lawyer drafts the power in Spanish and sends it to the consulate covering your state. You book an appointment, attend in person with your passport, and sign before the consular officer, who exercises notarial functions on behalf of the Spanish State. The document that comes out is, for all purposes, a Spanish notarial deed.

Advantages: no apostille, no sworn translation, and the fee is modest. Disadvantages: appointment availability. At the busier consulates — New York, Miami, Los Angeles — waits of several weeks are common, and they lengthen in spring and early summer. If your completion date is fixed, start early.

Route two: a US notary public plus apostille

Your Spanish lawyer drafts the power, normally in a bilingual English–Spanish column format so that you can read what you are signing. You sign it before any notary public in your state. You then send the notarised document to your Secretary of State — or, for federal documents, to the US Department of State — to obtain an apostille under the 1961 Hague Convention, to which both the United States and Spain are parties. Some states add an intermediate step: in a number of jurisdictions the county clerk must first certify the notary’s commission before the Secretary of State will apostille. Once apostilled, if the document is not already bilingual it is translated by a sworn translator (traductor jurado) appointed by the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Advantages: no appointment, no queue, you can do it in an afternoon at your bank or a UPS Store. Disadvantages: more steps, apostille turnaround varies by state from same-day to three weeks, and the sworn translation adds cost.

In practice we recommend the consulate route when your timetable allows it and the notary-plus-apostille route when it does not. Both are equally valid in Spain.

What the power of attorney should and should not say

The single most important drafting decision is scope. A poder general — a general power — allows your attorney-in-fact to do virtually anything with your Spanish assets, indefinitely. Spanish practice is full of them, and they are convenient. They are also more power than a property purchase requires.

What we normally recommend to American clients is a poder especial limited to the transaction: identify the property by address and cadastral reference; cap the purchase price at a stated maximum; authorise the NIE application, the opening of a bank account for the operation, signature of the purchase deed, subrogation or contracting of a mortgage if applicable, filing of the transfer tax and registration, and the change of utility contracts; and, where possible, include an expiry date. That gives your lawyer everything needed to complete and nothing that is not.

Two further points. A power of attorney can be revoked at any time before it is used, by a further notarial act; your lawyer arranges it and it takes a day. And a Spanish power of attorney granted for a property purchase does not, by itself, cover healthcare decisions, litigation or the sale of the property later — if you want your lawyer to be able to sell the house for you in ten years, that has to be granted expressly.

Cost, for orientation: the consular fee is modest; a US notarisation is typically $10–$50; apostille fees range roughly $10–$40 depending on the state; a sworn translation of a power of attorney runs €60–€150. The Spanish lawyer’s drafting fee is separate.

Bank accounts, wiring dollars and proving where the money came from

You do not strictly need a Spanish bank account to buy — the price can be paid by international transfer or by a bank draft — but in practice you will want one, because IBI, community fees, utilities and insurance are all paid by direct debit in Spain, and Spanish suppliers are reluctant to accept anything else.

Opening one as a US citizen is more friction than you expect, and the reason is FATCA. Spanish banks report US account holders to the IRS through the intergovernmental agreement, and some smaller institutions have decided the compliance burden is not worth it. The larger banks all handle American clients routinely. You will need your passport, your NIE, and a certificate of non-residence from the National Police, which your lawyer obtains.

On moving the money: do not use your retail bank’s foreign exchange desk for a six-figure transfer without comparing. The spread on a $400,000 conversion at a typical US retail bank against a regulated currency broker is frequently three to five thousand dollars. This is one of the largest single savings available in the whole transaction and it takes twenty minutes of research.

Source of funds. Spain’s anti-money-laundering legislation (Ley 10/2010) requires lawyers, notaries, banks and estate agents to identify the origin of the funds. Expect to be asked, and expect the request to be specific: bank statements showing the accumulation, a HUD-1 or closing statement from the US property you sold, a brokerage liquidation statement, an inheritance document, a divorce settlement. Americans often find this intrusive. It is universal and non-negotiable, and having the documentation ready in advance removes almost all of the delay it can otherwise cause. The notary independently records the means of payment in the deed and reports it.

Note also that cash payments are capped. Where one party acts in a business or professional capacity the limit is €1,000; for a payer who is an individual not tax resident in Spain and not acting as a business, the limit is €10,000. Nobody should be paying for a house in cash, but the rule catches people who intend to hand over a deposit in banknotes.

Financing: what a Spanish mortgage looks like to an American

Spanish banks do lend to non-resident Americans, typically at 60–70% loan-to-value against the lower of price and valuation, over terms of 20 to 25 years, with the loan usually required to be repaid by age 70 to 75. Residents can obtain 80%. Rates are tied to the 12-month Euribor for variable products; fixed rates exist and are common, but the American 30-year fixed with free prepayment does not.

Three things will feel unfamiliar. First, the process is document-heavy: expect to produce two years of federal tax returns, recent pay stubs or profit and loss statements, US credit report, bank statements and a schedule of existing debts, all of which will need translating. Second, under the mortgage law of 2019 (Ley 5/2019) the bank must deliver a standardised information sheet (FEIN) and you must attend a free explanatory meeting with the notary at least one day before signing the mortgage deed — a consumer protection step with no US analogue, and one you cannot waive. Third, the lender will require buildings insurance and will try hard to sell you life insurance and other products bundled into the rate; the bundling is legal, the discount is real, and it is worth pricing the alternative.

Budget an additional 1–1.5% of the loan for mortgage-related costs, principally the valuation and the arrangement fee. Since the 2018 case law and the 2019 statute, the lender pays the stamp duty, notary and registry costs on the mortgage itself.

Closing costs in 2026, with real numbers

The rule of thumb is 10–13% on top of the price. Here is where it goes, using the Valencian Community — Alicante, Benidorm, Alfaz del Pi, Altea, Jávea, Dénia, Torrevieja — as the reference.

Resale property

The dominant cost is Impuesto sobre Transmisiones Patrimoniales. The Valencian Community reduced the general rate from 10% to 9% for deeds signed on or after 1 June 2026, under Ley 5/2025 of 30 May. Above €1,000,000 of taxable base an 11% band applies to the excess. Reduced rates of 6% or 3% exist for buyers under 35, large families, persons with disabilities and protected housing, subject to conditions that rarely apply to a foreign second-home buyer.

Note that the tax is calculated on the valor de referencia — a reference value published by the Cadastre — where that exceeds the price paid. Since 2022 you cannot reduce the tax by declaring a lower price, and a price below the reference value produces a tax assessment on the reference value anyway. Your lawyer checks this figure before you commit.

On a €350,000 resale, signed after 1 June 2026:

New build bought from a developer

No ITP. Instead, VAT at 10% plus stamp duty (AJD) at 1.4%, also reduced from 1.5% on 1 June 2026. That makes new construction more expensive to acquire than resale in this region — 11.4% in tax against 9%. Off-plan purchases carry an additional consideration: under Ley 38/1999 and its 2015 amendment, the developer must hold your stage payments in a special account backed by a bank guarantee or insurance policy. Verify that this exists before you pay anything. It is the closest thing Spain has to escrow, and it exists only in this specific situation.

You can run your own figures with our purchase cost calculator.

The Spanish taxes you will pay every year

IBI. The municipal property tax, based on the cadastral value, typically €400–€1,200 a year for a coastal apartment or modest villa. Paid by direct debit. Note that unpaid IBI attaches to the property.

Imputed income tax — the one that surprises Americans. Spain taxes non-residents on a notional rental income from a second home even when it sits empty and even when it is never rented. The base is 1.1% of the cadastral value where that value has been revised within the previous ten years, otherwise 2%. As a US resident you are taxed at the non-EU rate of 24%, not the 19% available to residents of the EU and EEA. It is declared on Modelo 210 by 31 December of the following year. On a typical property this comes to €200–€700 a year. There is no US equivalent and no US credit mechanism that fits it neatly. Estimate yours with our imputed income calculator.

Rental income — and the point where American owners lose real money. If you rent the property out, residents of the EU and EEA are taxed at 19% on net income after deducting mortgage interest, IBI, community fees, insurance, repairs, agency commission and depreciation. Residents of third countries, which includes the United States, are taxed at 24% on gross income with no deductions at all. On a property generating €18,000 of rent against €7,000 of expenses, an EU owner pays about €2,090 and a US owner pays €4,320 — more than double, on lower economic profit. Since 2024 the declaration is annual, filed between 1 and 20 April of the following year.

This differential is the strongest single argument for looking carefully at how a rental property is held, and it is worth taking advice on before you buy rather than after. Run the numbers with our rental income calculator.

Add to this that the Valencian Community requires a tourist licence and registration number for short-term holiday letting, that many communities of owners have validly banned it in their statutes, and that Spain now operates a national single registry for short-term rental listings. Assuming you can put a Costa Blanca apartment on Airbnb is one of the more expensive assumptions available.

Wealth tax. Spain taxes non-residents on Spanish-situs net assets. The state exempt minimum is €700,000, but non-residents may elect to apply the rules of the autonomous community where the greatest value of their Spanish assets lies, and the Valencian Community doubled its exempt minimum to €1,000,000 with effect from 31 December 2025. A separate state-level solidarity tax on large fortunes applies above €3 million and is structured so that regional reliefs do not neutralise it. Most second-home buyers are below every threshold; buyers in the villa market above €1.5 million are not, and should model it before committing.

When you sell. Capital gains for non-residents are taxed at a flat 19%, and here for once the United States is not disadvantaged — the 19% applies to EU and non-EU non-residents alike. The buyer is legally obliged to withhold 3% of the price and pay it to the Spanish Treasury on Modelo 211, which functions exactly as FIRPTA withholding does in the United States, at a lower rate. You then file Modelo 210 within four months to settle the real liability or claim the excess back. Separately, the town hall levies plusvalía municipal on the increase in land value; since the 2021 reform you may choose the calculation method and there is no tax where no gain exists. Our capital gains and plusvalía calculators cover both.

What the IRS still wants from you

Nothing about buying in Spain reduces your US filing obligations. As a US citizen or green card holder you are taxed on worldwide income wherever you live. The following are the points that actually bite.

Rental income goes on Schedule E, converted to dollars, with US rules applied — which means you may deduct expenses the Spanish system denies you. Foreign residential rental property is depreciated under the alternative depreciation system over 30 years for property placed in service after 2017, not the 27.5 years applicable domestically.

Foreign tax credit. Spanish IRNR paid is generally creditable on Form 1116 in the passive category, and the 1990 US–Spain income tax treaty, as amended by the protocol in force since 27 November 2019, allocates taxing rights over real property income to Spain. The practical difficulty is that Spain taxes you at 24% of gross while the US taxes you on a much smaller net figure, so American owners routinely generate excess foreign tax credits they cannot use. Carryback one year, carryforward ten.

FBAR and Form 8938. Real property owned directly in your own name is not reportable on either form. Your Spanish bank account is. If the aggregate high balance of all your foreign financial accounts exceeds $10,000 at any moment in the year, FinCEN Form 114 is due — and the account you open to pay your IBI counts. Form 8938 applies above higher thresholds and, importantly, if you hold the property through a Spanish company or other entity, the interest in that entity becomes reportable even though the house itself would not have been. That is one of several reasons to think hard before an American holds Spanish property in a corporate structure.

Selling. The section 121 exclusion of $250,000 or $500,000 on the sale of a principal residence applies to a home anywhere in the world if the ownership and use tests are met — relevant if you actually move to Spain. And if you took a euro-denominated mortgage, repaying it can generate a taxable foreign currency gain under section 988 that has no Spanish counterpart and takes people entirely by surprise.

State tax. Leaving the country does not automatically end California or New York domicile. If you are relocating rather than buying a holiday home, deal with state residency deliberately.

We work alongside your US CPA rather than replacing them; the coordination is where the value is, and the two systems have to be planned together or the Spanish structure that looks efficient in Alicante becomes expensive in Washington.

Can you actually live there? Visas, 90/180 and ETIAS

Buying property in Spain gives you no immigration right whatsoever. That relationship was severed when the golden visa was abolished — the investor residence permit was repealed by Ley Orgánica 1/2025 and ceased to be available for new applications on 3 April 2025. Permits granted before that date remain valid and renewable, but property investment is no longer a route to residency.

As a US passport holder you may enter the Schengen area visa-free for 90 days in any rolling 180-day period. That is enough for a holiday home, not enough to spend six months a year. The Entry/Exit System has been rolling out at Spanish airports since late 2025 and biometric registration is replacing passport stamping, which means the 90/180 count is now automated and enforced with a precision that did not previously exist. ETIAS, the €20 online travel authorisation, is expected to begin in the last quarter of 2026 with a transition period running into 2027.

If you want more than 90 days, the realistic routes are:

Non-lucrative visa (NLV). Passive income of roughly €2,400 a month for the main applicant plus around €600 for each dependant, private Spanish health insurance with no co-payments, FBI background check apostilled, applied for at the consulate covering your state. You may not work — including remotely — under this visa. Popular with retirees, and it makes you Spanish tax resident on worldwide income, which is a significant decision for an American.

Digital nomad visa. Created by the 2022 Startup Law for remote workers employed by or contracting with non-Spanish companies, with an income requirement of roughly double the minimum wage and, for qualifying applicants, access to a special tax regime taxing Spanish employment income at 24% up to €600,000.

Both are decisions with tax consequences that reach back into your US position. Sequence them with advice, not after the fact.

The “100% tax on non-EU buyers”: what is actually true

American clients ask about this in almost every first call, so let us be precise.

On 13 January 2025 the Prime Minister announced, as part of a housing package, a proposal to impose a tax of up to 100% of the value on purchases of existing homes by non-EU buyers not resident in Spain. It generated enormous international coverage.

As at the date of this review, it is not law and it has not been voted on. No bill has completed parliamentary passage, the measure was not carried forward as a headline item in the government’s January 2026 housing package, and it lacks the parliamentary arithmetic to pass in its announced form. There are also credible arguments that a measure of this design would face challenge under EU free movement of capital rules, which — unusually — extend to third countries and therefore to American buyers.

What this means practically: buy on today’s rules, which are the rules set out above, and do not restructure a purchase around a measure that has not been enacted. It also means that if you are buying, a completed purchase is worth more certainty than an indefinitely deferred one. We monitor this and will update this article if the position changes.

What happens to the property when you die

This is the area where American owners are most often exposed, because the assumptions travel worst.

Spain has forced heirship. Under the Civil Code, two thirds of an estate is reserved to descendants and a surviving spouse has a reserved usufruct. You cannot simply leave everything to your spouse the way you can in most US states. However, under EU Regulation 650/2012, which applies in Spain to the estates of anyone regardless of nationality, you may make a professio iuris — an express choice of the law of your nationality to govern your succession. For a US national that means the law of the relevant US state, which for most Americans restores testamentary freedom.

That choice has to be expressed, and the cleanest way to express it is in a Spanish will limited to your Spanish assets, signed before a Spanish notary and registered in the Registro General de Actos de Última Voluntad. It costs a few hundred euros. Without it, your heirs will need to have your US will translated, apostilled, accompanied by an affidavit of foreign law and, frequently, litigated over — a process that routinely takes a year and costs several thousand euros against a document that would have taken an afternoon.

Two additional points specific to Americans. There is no estate or gift tax treaty between the United States and Spain, only the income tax treaty; relief from double taxation depends on the unilateral credit in section 2014 of the Internal Revenue Code and on Spanish domestic credits, and it is imperfect. And Spanish inheritance tax is levied on the recipient, not the estate, at rates that in the abstract reach 34% before multipliers — but following Supreme Court case law from 2018 and subsequent legislative amendment, non-residents of third countries, including US residents, are entitled to apply the regional rules of the autonomous community where the Spanish assets are located. In the Valencian Community that means a 99% relief for spouses, descendants and ascendants, which typically reduces the tax on a family home to a nominal amount. This equal treatment is not always applied automatically at the counter; it needs to be claimed correctly. Our inheritance tax calculator gives an indication, and there is more detail on our inheritance law page.

If you hold in a community property state — California, Texas, Arizona, Washington and others — the interaction between your matrimonial property regime and Spanish law needs to be declared correctly in the deed at the moment of purchase. Getting it wrong at acquisition is far more expensive to fix than getting it right.

Seven mistakes we see Americans make

1. Signing the agency’s reservation document unread. It is a contract. Frequently it forfeits your deposit on grounds you would never accept if you had read them, and it is signed in an office, in a language you do not read, on the afternoon you saw the property.

2. Assuming the earnest money is refundable. It is not, unless the contract says so. Financing, survey and licence contingencies must be drafted in.

3. Using the agent’s lawyer. The person who introduced you to the property and is paid a commission on its sale should not also be selecting the professional who tells you whether to buy it. Instruct independently.

4. Treating the notary as their attorney. By the time you reach the notary, the negotiation is over. The notary’s impartiality is the point of the institution, and it is not a substitute for representation.

5. Buying a property with unlicensed works. Extensions, glazed terraces, pools and converted basements built without a licence are common on the Costa Blanca. Some are legalisable, some are time-barred but permanently unregisterable, and some are subject to live demolition proceedings. This is invisible from the listing and from the deed, and only a planning enquiry at the town hall reveals it.

6. Not planning the rental taxation before buying. The 24% on gross with no deductions changes the yield calculation on an investment property fundamentally, and it is much easier to address before completion.

7. Relying on a US will. A Spanish will costs a few hundred euros. Not having one costs your children a year.

Frequently asked questions

Can a US citizen buy property in Spain?

Yes, with no restriction and on the same terms as a Spanish national. There is no requirement to be resident, to hold a visa or to obtain any authorisation. The only prerequisite is a NIE.

Do I need to travel to Spain to buy?

No. With a Spanish power of attorney granted before a Spanish consulate in the United States, or before a US notary public and apostilled, your lawyer can complete the entire purchase in your absence, including the NIE application, the bank account, the deed and the tax filings.

Does buying property give me residency in Spain?

No. The golden visa investor route was abolished on 3 April 2025. Property ownership carries no immigration right. US passport holders may stay 90 days in any 180-day period visa-free; longer stays require a non-lucrative visa, a digital nomad visa or another residence permit.

How much are closing costs in Spain?

Budget 10–13% on top of the price. In the Valencian Community a resale attracts 9% transfer tax from 1 June 2026, plus notary, registry, gestoría and legal fees. A new build attracts 10% VAT plus 1.4% stamp duty instead.

Is there escrow or title insurance in Spain?

No escrow in the American sense, and title insurance is available but rarely used. Protection comes from pre-contract registry and planning checks by your lawyer, the notary’s verification on signing day, and registration of the deed at the Land Registry.

What taxes do American owners pay on a Spanish property?

Annually: municipal IBI, and non-resident income tax on imputed income at 24% of 1.1% or 2% of the cadastral value even if the property is never rented. If rented: 24% of gross rental income with no deductions, because the United States is outside the EU and EEA. On sale: 19% capital gains tax, a 3% withholding by the buyer, and municipal plusvalía.

Do I have to report my Spanish house to the IRS?

Real property held directly in your own name is not reportable on FBAR or Form 8938. Your Spanish bank account is: FinCEN Form 114 is due if your foreign financial accounts exceed $10,000 in aggregate at any point in the year. Rental income must be declared on your US return, with a foreign tax credit available for Spanish tax paid.

Is Spain really going to impose a 100% tax on American buyers?

It was announced as a proposal in January 2025 and has not been enacted. No bill has been voted on, it was not prioritised in the January 2026 housing package, and it faces both parliamentary and EU-law obstacles. Purchases today are taxed under the ordinary rules.

Do I need a Spanish will?

Strongly recommended. Under EU Regulation 650/2012 a US national may elect the law of their state of nationality to govern succession, displacing Spanish forced heirship — but the election should be expressed in a Spanish will covering the Spanish assets. Without one, the estate is settled from your US will through translation, apostille and proof of foreign law, which takes far longer and costs considerably more.

Official sources

• Ley 5/2025, de 30 de mayo, de la Generalitat Valenciana — ITP reduced to 9% and AJD to 1.4% with effect from 1 June 2026 (DOGV, 31 May 2025).
• Real Decreto Legislativo 5/2004 — consolidated Non-Resident Income Tax Act: 24% rate for residents of third countries, 19% capital gains rate, 3% withholding on transfers.
• Ley Orgánica 1/2025 — repeal of the investor residence permit (golden visa), effective 3 April 2025.
• Regulation (EU) 650/2012 on succession — choice of the law of nationality.
• Ley 10/2010 on the prevention of money laundering — source of funds obligations.
• Ley 5/2019 regulating real estate credit agreements — pre-contractual information and the notary meeting.
• Convention of 5 October 1961 abolishing the requirement of legalisation for foreign public documents (Apostille) — United States and Spain both parties.
• US–Spain income tax convention of 1990 and Protocol in force from 27 November 2019.
• Ministerio de Asuntos Exteriores — consular network in the United States, NIE procedure (form EX-15).

If you are buying, or thinking about it

We act for buyers only — never for the agency, never for the developer, never for both sides. The work is the part that happens before you sign: registry and cadastral verification, the planning enquiry at the town hall, the community debt certificate, negotiating the arras contract so that your deposit is protected and your contingencies exist, structuring the power of attorney so that you never need to fly over, and coordinating with your CPA so that the Spanish position and the US position are planned together rather than reconciled afterwards.

Hugo Gutiérrez Colás has practised on the Costa Blanca for more than eighteen years and acted for thirteen years as attorney-in-fact for Svenska Handelsbanken on mortgage transactions in the Valencian Community and Murcia. We work in English, Spanish, Swedish, Norwegian and Danish, and we are used to clients in US time zones.

Read more about our property purchase service, or start with a call. First conversations are free and we will tell you plainly if a property is not worth pursuing.

Colás Abogados / Advokater — Hugo Gutiérrez Colás, Lawyer no. 6.539 ICALI
Calle Mozart 9, 03581 Alfaz del Pi (Alicante), Spain
Email: [email protected]
Telephone: +34 629 549 430
Web: www.colas-abogados.com

Author: Hugo Gutiérrez Colás, Lawyer no. 6.539 of the Alicante Bar Association. Published 20 August 2026. Last legal review: 20 August 2026.

This article is informative in nature and does not constitute legal or tax advice on a specific case. Tax rates and thresholds are those in force at the date of review and may change. US tax matters should be confirmed with a qualified US tax adviser.