foreigners

For years, foreigners who wanted sun and beach bought a house in Spain. Now they are looking for something else: luxury housing

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The real estate market emits signals which show that foreigners have won a relevant weight in the sale and purchase of luxury homes, which leads us to think about changes in the profile of the international buyer. Spain is no longer just a destination for families or couples from other countries interested in getting a small apartment for their vacation in search of sun and beach. It also receives wealthy people who want settle herein the cities, and is able to pay for his house out of pocket. The data are certainly suggestive. “First level destination”. I warned him recently in an interview with Idealista Paloma Pérez Bravo, CEO of Residencial de Lucas Fox, a platform specialized in the premium market: “Spain has gone from being a sun and beach getaway to a top-level luxury destination.” From your experiencethe country “has stopped being the home of the sun and has become the home of investment. People want more first homes than second homes because they are moving to Spain.” It’s not the only change he appreciates. Upon your signature, Bravo explains to SERdigital nomads are now arriving, entrepreneurs from America, English and American, also businessmen and investors who used to invest in the US and now find themselves with problems there due to Trump’s immigration policy. Is there data? Yes, although they come mainly from companies, so they must be handled with some caution. In your report On market forecasts for 2026, Lucas Fox reveals for example that 62% of buyers Those who close transactions worth more than 2.5 million euros are foreigners, more than 60% of ultra-luxury sales are signed without the need for financing and a good part of the acquisitions are made in search of a “main residence”, not to convert the property into a vacation home or as an investment. Looking ahead to next year, the company also expects that activity in the segments prime and super prime grow 3-6% and 6-10% respectively and leaves behind a fundamental idea that tells us about the profile of those clients who purchase the most expensive houses: “The international buyer is already the majority.” Specifically, the weight of Europeans stands out, followed by Americans and British. Other percentage: 92%. Lucas Fox is not the first to warn of the frequency with which foreign accents are heard in real estate agencies specializing in the premium market. A few months ago Barnes claimed that 92% of buyers from the Spanish luxury market were already foreigners. Of them, around half (49%) were also investors from outside the EU, with a notable presence especially of Mexicans, Colombians, Venezuelans, Russians, Chinese and Arabs. The community members They accounted for 43% while the Spanish, according to the real estate agency, were left with a meager 8% of the total. Are there more clues? The answer is once again affirmative. Another company that shared data recently is LuxuryEstatea premium housing portal that confirms that searches by international buyers interested in the Spanish market already represent a substantial part of its traffic. Above all, the demand for information from european countries such as Germany, France, Italy, Belgium or the Netherlands and the interest aroused by the premium segment of Catalonia, the Balearic Islands, Madrid or the Valencian Community. Other regions, such as the Canary Islands and the Basque Country, also seem to be emerging. A consolidated destination. LuxuryEstate confirm in fact that ours “is no longer just an aspirational destination, but a highly competitive market.” The comment is in line with what it points out to Lucas Fox or even CaixaBank Research, which in a recent analysis Regarding the changes in the profile of the resident foreigner who acquires housing in Spain, he warns: “Spain has established itself as one of the most attractive destinations for luxury investment in Europe.” Different buyers. In the same reportCaixaBank recalls that the demand for housing by foreigners has grown in recent years, first after the pandemic and then thanks to the improvement in financing. It also clarifies that there are differences between resident foreigners and those who do not live here and are mainly looking for houses for their vacations or as an investment. On average, the former (residents) paid around €1,795/m2 in 2024 and the latter (non-residents) €3,063/m2. These are values ​​significantly higher than those recorded by national buyers, which moved at 1,713. However, the last balance of Property Registrars shows that foreign demand for housing has reduced in the third quarter of the year, representing 13.6% of the total. The percentage reflects the entire market, not just the luxury segment, although there are those who warn that the latter is not immune to the shortage of supply, which among other issues affects its prices. Images | DaYsO (Unsplash) In Xataka | After Catalonia, there is another autonomous community considering prohibiting buying a home to invest: Canary Islands

register foreigners for hundreds of euros

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Madrid said goodbye to 2024 with a record historical. According to the INE census published a year ago, the community exceeded one million residents born in Latin America. Only the Spanish-speaking foreigners arriving from another side of the Atlantic Ocean added 1,038,671 people. If the rest of the nationalities are added to that figure, the number of foreigners increases until it amounts to something more than 16% of the region’s population, a large part of which is also concentrated in the capital. Behind these figures (and the difficulties that many foreigners encounter when they want to register) there are those who have seen a real bargain: registering immigrants in their homes even if they do not reside there. They do it (of course) in exchange for hundreds either thousands of euroswithout taking into account that it is not legal. Where do I register? Such a question is the one that thousands of immigrants recently arrived in Spain ask each year. The answer is not always simple. At first it is not unusual for them to stay temporarily with families or friends and when they want to look for their own home they find themselves with a handicap (apart from skyrocketing prices): not all landlords are willing to allow them to register. One arrives quick search on advertising networks or platforms to find apartments for rent that make clear that guideline: “Registration is not possible.” Others allow it, but as long as The stay lasts a minimum of months. Why is it important? Because although it may seem like a bureaucratic formality, registration is a key procedure for immigrants. For a start the law requires itwhich makes it clear that any resident in Spain has to register in the municipality in which they live. If that were not enough in itself, the census is the first step that any migrant who wants to build a future in the country must take: without a registry there is no Foreigner Identity Card (TIE) and procedures such as managing the health card or sending children to school become complicated. “The register is the way that people in an irregular administrative situation have to demonstrate the time they have been in the country. To obtain social roots, the residence permit, one of the requirements is to prove that they have been in Spain for three years,” clarifies to ABC Daniela Montes, from the Information, Guidance and Support Office for the Social Integration of the Migrant Population of the Madrid City Council. “Without a registry they can’t do it.” What is the solution? The networks. Or at least that’s where many immigrants end up. Faced with the situation of looking for a house in which to register, many opt for the simplest thing: go to social networks or online advertising platforms and ask openly. Again comes a quick search to confirm it. If you type “registration Madrid” in Milanuncios, one of the first results is that of a person looking for a “room with registration” in exchange for 350 euros. There are not only ads like this on the Internet. There are also people who do exactly the opposite: offer registrations. What exactly do they offer? a few days ago The Country public an extensive report in which it showed screenshots from Milanuncios and Facebook in which municipal census services are offered (openly, without half measures). “We do registration. For people who have just arrived or need a registration to process papers, we do it for them,” read a Milanuncios post, now deleted. Other posts posted on networks are still active after several months. “Registration in central Madrid, there are places for those who need to register, without advances and in person,” reads one of them. Is it really a business? It seems so. In 2023 a reporter from ABC responded to one of his advertisements, located by Wallapop, and ended up contacting a man who offered to register immigrants who had recently landed in Spain at his home. His gesture had little altruism. In exchange he asked for 150 euros. Not an isolated case. There are those who claim 50 or even 300 euros. Another advertiser you spoke to ABC He demanded 3,000 euros in exchange for a 12-month registration. “I will go with you to the city hall and register you at my home, giving permission. Here you will receive fines, summonses, and that is not free.” Its role is key because for registration it is necessary to have a contract signed by the owner of the home, proof of rent payment, invoices or deeds. Is it that common? There is no official data that allows us to answer this question, but the issue has been on the table for some time, as evidenced by social networks and newspaper archives. The Country has touched on the topic recentlybut last year RTVE did it, two ago ABC…Proof that the practice is not something anecdotal is the testimony of Mateo, a 28-year-old Colombian who, upon arriving in Madrid with his partner and pet, encountered the problem of where to register. His landlord refused to give him the documents he needed to process his census legally, so he went to Facebook, where he contacted people who offered registration. The first attempt went wrong. The reason? When he arrived at the municipal window where he had to present the form, he found that the apartment in which he was going to register included more than 70 census people. Why is it a problem? Beyond the obvious ethical and moral problem (those who sell censuses ultimately take advantage of vulnerable people), the law casts many shadows on this practice. Registration is a procedure mandatory and free and the regulations make it clear that people must register at the address where they reside, not another where they only appear at an administrative level. As if that were not enough, the Immigration Law clarifies in its article 53 that “consenting to the registration in the registry by the owner of … Read more

In 2007, 20% of homes were bought by young Spaniards. Now that gap is being filled by another group: foreigners

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With the skyrocketing priceshe decoupling between supply and demand in cities and a market increasingly inaccessiblethe notaries of Spain have found themselves with a curious fact (not unexpected) when reviewing the home buying and selling data. Operations led by young people have collapsed in recent decades. If in 2007 they represented 22.5% of the total, now they do not reach 10%. Of course, all groups have followed the same dynamic. The statistics Notaries show that there is another group of buyers that has experienced a diametrically opposite trend: foreigners. What has happened? That the General Council of Notaries (CGN) has launched a new tool on-line which helps us better understand the Spanish real estate market. Above all to study key aspects such as the evolution of prices, the pace of purchases and sales or the amount of operations, offering an alternative vision to that of portals such as Idealista. If something has attracted attention During its presentation, however, another indicator was: the weight of young people in the real estate market. Or rather, how it has been receding little by little. What does the data say? The conclusion of the notaries is quite clear. If we look back and analyze the last two decades, we see that “the presence of young people in the market has been drastically reduced.” In 2007, the younger population (those between 18 and 30 years old) was behind 22.53% of sales. Today that percentage has been reduced to 9.55%. In fact, the statistical portal shows that they are one of the groups with the smallest footprint on the market, only behind the group that is already over 70 years old. In general the latest data Updated CGN data show that those under 31 years of age have represented 9.35% of buyers over the last year, far from the 25.7% of the 31-40 age group or 26.89% of the 41-50 age group. For more than a decade, in fact, the average age of those who buy has been around 50 years old. It’s not surprising at all. Other studies have been pointing out for some time the difficulties with which young people encounter to access the real estate market (only a part manages to buy or rent) and above all its gradual weight loss. Do they show anything else? Yes. Young Spaniards may play a much more discreet role in the sector today than just a few years ago, but there is another group that has grown. So much in fact that has covered the gap left by those less than 30 years old. CGN data show that operations carried out by foreigners have skyrocketed in the last two decades: from representing 7.5% of the total in 2007, they have risen to 20.1%. The Vanguard specifies that the increase has been especially pronounced in the case of non-residents, who would be purchasing of the order of 50,000-60,000 properties per year. He statistical portal of notaries allows us to go a few steps further and get a more approximate idea of ​​which foreign citizens are interested in the Spanish real estate market. According to their updated data, the British represent 8.7%, the Moroccans 7.7% and the Italians are close to 7%. They are followed on the list by Germans (6.9%) and Romanians (6.4%). It is interesting that in some of these groups, such as the British, the percentage of non-resident buyers is higher than those who do have their habitual residence in Spanish territory. When comparing the evolution of foreign buyers and young people (between 18 and 31 years old), the data must however be handled with some caution, since the General Council of Notaries does not clarify to what extent they overlap. And what about the prices? In recent years the real estate market has been marked by another phenomenon as or even more relevant: rising prices. The data of Idealistic show that, in Spain, on average, the square meter of residential use cost 1,522 euros in September 2015. It now stands at 2,517. The data does not exactly match the calculated by the notaries, but it still gives an idea of ​​the increase in housing prices. The group estimates that last year the sector recorded a variation rate price increases of 7.12%, one of the highest in the last decade. In fact, it was only surpassed in 2022, when the figure was 7.23%. “From January to August 2025, apartment prices in Spain (new and second-hand housing) have increased by 8% compared to 2024. This situation is worsened in the country’s capital, with Madrid registering a price increase of 15.2%. In Barcelona the increase reaches 9.23%,” concludes the CGN. The director of the Technological Center of Notaries, Alberto Martínez Lacambra, admits In fact, the rise in housing prices “is beginning to be worrying.” And beyond prices? The weight loss of young people is explained by several factors. Although the increase in the price of residential m2 is a key factor, there is an added difficulty in saving (costs rise in the purchase and sale market, but also in the rental market) and accessing credit or deep imbalance between demand and supply that the most saturated markets suffer from. The situation is so complex and young people have it so difficult that in fact notaries have found another revealing surprise: they are increasingly most common donations of housing (or cash for purchases) between parents and children. Regarding the increase in foreign buyers, the trend coincides with another undeniable reality. One that goes beyond the effect of extinct ‘golden visa’: he general increase of the foreign population, which has helped Spain increase its GDP and strengthening of the registry, a reality recognized by the INE itself. In recent years, the country has also gained appeal as a vacation destination, to the point that it threatens to become with more visitors of the planet. Images | Emil Gabrovski (Unsplash) and Roberto Tjalondo (Unsplash) In Xataka | A 40m2 “capsule” for 25,000 euros: the Chinese solution to housing that … Read more

What new prefixes have to use and what happens to the calls foreigners

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Let’s tell you What new changes apply to commercial calls From now on, specifically since Saturday, June 7. From now on, spam calls can no longer be made from mobile numbers, and will have to use special prefixes. In this article we will review what changes in this type of calls, so that you know what the new standard says and what are The good and bad news. We will tell you what are the new prefixes, and then we will tell you to what extent this ends with spam calls and what happens to phone calls. Commercial call prefixes Until now, when an unknown phone number calls you, you didn’t have a way of knowing if it was a call from someone or simple advertising. Because spam calls also use mobile numbers so that we do not identify them, and so that we tend more to take them. From now on, Commercial calls must use 800 and 900 prefixes. This means that from now on they can no longer use mobile phone numbers to make spam calls, but will have to use numbers with these special prefixes. Not all who call you from these prefixes will be called spamsince they can be used for customer service or technical services of companies. But we go, in general, to be able to identify the possible commercial calls because They start for 8 and 9 and not at 6it can be a help. Does this end with spam calls? No. Unfortunately, in this fight against telephone spam, companies that use these little ethical methods often tend to look for ways to skip the law. First is the consent: If you have given permission without knowing it To make you make commercial calls, or if you have a contract with this company, then they have the right to call you advertising. There is also the legitimate interestbecause if a company is going to offer you a way to improve a service that we already have with it, or to offer us discounts, then it can be considered as a desired communication, and not as an unwanted. And you may also simply skip the law. A company can try to continue using telephone numbers for spam, and will correspond to operators to block the numbers that do not correspond to users or services. What about calls from outside Spain If a foreign company calls with a prefix from your countryand that evidence that it is an outside call, then they can continue to do so without being forced to use these prefixes. In the end, this regulation only applies to calls within Spain. But if a foreign company uses Spanish telephone numbersthen the operators have the obligation to block the calls. They have to block those calls that simulate a national identifier without being. Of course, many companies can take their switchboards abroad to continue doing telephone campaigns without these prefixes of 800 and 900, although foreigners should use.

foreigners upload, nationals are stagnant

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2024 was A good year For hotels in Spain. With the already distant memory of pandemic and tourist flow taking strength Internationally, Spanish accommodations reached A historical maximum of overnight stays: they added almost 364 million hired nights, a 4.9% more than 2023 And above even Pre-covid data. When analyzed closely, it is observed, however, this data has a “but”. If the hotels achieved historical value it was basically for foreign tourism, which compensated for the national stagnation. In Spanish hotels it begins to be easier to hear than Spanish. Two -speed tourism. The data of the National Statistics Institute (INE) are clear: although in 2024 the overnight They increased 4.9% In the hotels in Spain, that percentage hides two very different realities. The demand for foreign visitors grows. Not that of domestic tourism. The first paid for 241.7 million Of nights, 7.5% more than in 2023, while Spanish travelers stayed at 121.9 million overnight stays, practically the same (+0.2%) as the previous year. With that backdrop, the annual rate of the hotel price index rebounded 7%. Filling data in hotels published by the INE. Is there more data? Yes. Ine values ​​point in the same direction as the published A few days ago In X by economist Ángel Talavera based on the Tables of Oxford Economics and Harver Analytics. In his graphic it is also appreciated how during the last years (with the Covid break) the gap between the demand of the Spaniards and the foreigner has been widen, especially in the last two exercises. While foreign visitors’s overnightness grew about 17% (20.1%, according to the INE), that of national tourists barely varied. How many tourists are equivalent? In total, a 116.3 million travelers. Of these, 54.3 million resided in Spain and the remaining 61.9 arrived from other countries. Those figures show two conclusions. The first helps to understand the growing weight of foreigners’ overnight stays in the hotels in Spain: on average, their stays are longer. Almost four nights, fry at 2.2 of the Spaniards. The second conclusion is that hotel growth relies mainly on the impulse of foreign tourism. In 2024 the flow of tourists from other countries grew by 8.22% while that of residents remained practically frozen, with a slight fall of 0.7%. In general, the INE shows that the Spaniards look more and more abroad to plan our vacations. In 2024 trips out of the country They grew by 12.1% While the inmates fell 2.3%. British and Germans, the “kings“. Their statistics They allow you to go even further and get an idea where they come and what regions of Spain prefer. With respect to the former, their origin, two large emitting foci, the United Kingdom and Germany, whose travelers starred in 43% of foreigners’ overnight (102.9 million). In addition, both groups grew in 2024. As for the second, in which regions of Spain they stay, the Canary Islands and the Mediterranean stand out. The archipelago monopolized 26.3% of overnight Of the non -residents in Spain, 5% more than in 2023. In second and third are the Balearic Islands (23.9% of the total) and Catalonia (18.2%). That last area is also one of the most busy by the Spaniards, together with Andalusia and Community Valencian. In general, Mallorca was the point in Spain with more number of speakers. Click on the image to go to Tweet. And outside the hotels? All of the above are data from the report of the Hotel Tourist situation of the INE, which focuses the focus basically on the “hotel establishments”, a wide label that covers traditional hotels, hostels, motels and pensions. Another equally interesting fact is that of tourist businesses “Estruosteraros”which includes campsites, shelters, rural tourism and apartments accommodations. His 2024 general photo is very similar. Their businesses closed the year with more overnight than in 2023. To be precise, 3% more. Although that data hides two realities when analyzing travelers due to their place origin. Spaniard overnight pernotations fell 0.5%. On the contrary that those of foreigners, who grew by 5.8%.. Data issue … The record in the hotels in Spain, promoted mainly by travelers from other countries, is not quite a novelty. Before the sector ended 2024 I already pointed out to a historical brand in the flow of foreign tourists, which reinforces the weight of Spain in the international tourist circuit. In fact Google and Deloitte They estimate That in the medium term, in 2040, Spain can be the destination with the highest influx of tourists on the planet, ahead of France or the US. Occupation data in “extrahoteros” accommodations, which include from shelters to apartments. … and challenges. That growth has been rigging, however, important challenges. The tourist boom, especially of foreign visitors with greater purchasing power, has Increased offer of holiday rental, Tensioning (even more) The residential housing market at points such as Balearic Islands, Catalonia, Canary Islands or Madrid. Such is the situation that administrations already They have moved file To try tackle the housing transfer to the tourism market. The neighbors of the most affected areas have also out to the street for claim A tourist model compatible with the day -to -day life of residents. They have seen in the Balearic Islands, the Canary Islands, Madrid or Catalonia, where last summer a group of protesters reached shoot with guns of water to visitors in protest. The image gave the return to the world. To the north, in Cantabria, the residents even They have mobilized Under the motto “We don’t want to be the North Ibiza.” The threat. The great challenge that now the main tourist destinations in Spain, as in Other countriesIt is not to die of success. I may sound exaggerated, but there is already some important travel guide that advise to visit Mallorca, Barcelona and the Canary Islands in 2025 for considering them massive. “Tourists do not tire of Europe, but the discontent residents of many European destinations no longer want to receive them, at least not in … Read more

veto purchases to foreigners

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Australia has had an idea to solve (or alleviate) housing crisis that has been dragging for a long time: it makes it difficult for foreign investors interested in their real estate market. Both those who want to monopolize soil and those looking for already built houses. The restriction is already looking with a certain restlessness From India, origin of a good part of Australian immigration, but beyond Oceania or Asia interests for another reason: its approach and objectives. After all, or Australia is the only country to deal with a residential crisis or yours is the first government to consider foreigners. In Spain itself there is already talk of limiting the purchase to investors of out of the EUmeasure that in Barcelona They propose to extend to community citizens who do not intend to establish themselves in the city. What happened? That Australia has decided to adopt “drastic measures” against the purchase of houses and land by foreigners, In words of his government. A few days ago, just a few months after The elections to Parliament and with the house turned into one of the Great concerns from the country, Anthony Albanese executive announced A “energetic” plan to prevent operations from abroad from complicating (even more) access to housing to Australians. Its bet is based on two measures: limit or directly veto purchases from outside the country. Click on the image to go to Tweet. What exactly do they pose? That foreign investors cannot buy houses or apartments in Australia, although the measure has an important small print. To start because it focuses on buildings already existingnot in the new constructions. Another key is that it has an expiration date. The veto will last only two years, between April 1, 2025 and March 31, 2027, although Australian authorities They already advance That the time will “review” to assess whether to extend for a longer time. “So far investors have generally been forbidden to buy existing properties, except in specific circumstances, such as when they come to live to work or study,” he recalls A statement issued by the Department of Clare O’Neil, Housing Minister. “As of April 1, foreign investors will no longer be able to buy an existing home in Australia while the veto is in force, unless an exception is applied.” Will there be exceptions? In case there were doubts about the scope of the measure, the Australian authorities Remember that the prohibition will also be extended to temporary residents and foreign property companies. In fact the veto already He has aroused suspicion In India, where it is common for young people to move to Australia with the claim to train and seek employment. As remember The O’Neile office the norm contemplates certain exceptions, but in a “limited” way and oriented to a very specific profile: local authorities recognize that what they have in mind are the investments that “significantly increase” the housing park or favor their availability. That is, the balance of the supply of houses for the Australians themselves is always positive. Is it the only measure? No. The Albanese team progresses that will reinforce the controls to ensure that the regulations are met and provide special attention to the “land hoist” in foreign hands. “We are taking energetic measures against the purchase of land by foreign investors to release land and build more homes more quickly,” The Executive points outwhich guarantees to be “striving” to “identify” investors who buy empty land, urban them while the prices upload and then take them up for sale. And what is the reason? “This activity violates the standards and causes delays in the development of residential and commercial urbanizations that are essential,” insist from the department of O’Neil. In the same statement they presume in fact the investment dedicated to auditing and detecting this kind of movements in the sector. “Foreign investors who have already acquired or propose to acquire vacant, residential or non -residential land will be subject to greater scrutiny to ensure that they meet the conditions of development.” What is the goal? Facilitate access to housing between Australians themselves and “guarantee” that foreign investment in housing responds to “national interest.” “The ban will mean that Australians can buy houses that would otherwise have been acquired by foreign investors,” presume From the Ministry of Housing. “It’s about relieving pressure on our real estate market while built more houses.” But … will it work? That is the great unknown, if the measure will help decongest the Australian market. Authorities are confident that he will release some 1,800 properties a year that will be available to local buyers, but The Telegraph He quotes experts They estimate that the new policy will not reach 0.4% of the real estate market. Moreover, in 2022 foreign investors starred in 5,360 purchases of residential real estate and only a small part of them (one third) were already existing homes. How serious is the problem? To understand the plan of the Albanese government, it is as important to understand its details as the context. First because the plan is announced in a Pre -election atmosphere and with the house turned into one of the problems that More restless To the Australians. Second because the country dealt with a complex scenario in residential matters, marked by the Price risehe maladjustment Between supply and demand, difficulties to access to a home and The fall in investment In social housing. 2024 said goodbye with a very slight 0.1% drop In housing prices, but from the sector it is noted that it is probably a “superficial and short duration” decrease. In fact, it manages studies that point in the opposite sense. Last spring reuters made A poll Among analysts that revealed that the increase in housing prices will probably be maintained until 2026. Images | PAT WHELEN (UNSPLASH) In Xataka | The problem of buying a house in Spain is no longer just its price. Is that you have less than 73 days to decide

the radical plan that Barcelona is considering for foreigners

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New year, old worries. In one of his first polls 2025, the CIS has confirmed (to no one’s surprise) that one of the issues that most worries Spaniards at this start of the year, if not the most, is housing. Their prices and accessibility keep more people awake at night than the progress of the economy or the political debate. With that backdrop, in Barcelona, ​​one of the cities in the country where the more they are getting more expensive rentals, have decided to make a move to protect their market from speculation. and has an idea: prohibiting foreigners from purchasing homes in Barcelona if it is not to reside in them. What has happened? That Barcelona City Council has placed duties on itself in terms of housing. Its Commission on Ecology, Urban Planning, Mobility and Housing has approved an ERC proposal that raises explore the legal form to prohibit the purchase of homes by investment funds and foreign people who are not going to reside in them. The measure has moved forward with the support of the Republicans, PSC and Barcelona en Comú and the rejection of PP, Vox and Junts. Click on the image to go to the tweet. What exactly have they approved? The proposal of ERC advocated that the City Council, together with the rest of the administrations with powers in the matter, “promote the necessary legislative tools to prohibit the purchase of housing by all investment funds and non-resident persons (natural or legal) in the country, if it is not for one’s own residential use or that of a direct family member”. The Newspaper clarify that the PSC proposed a compromise to the ERC proposal (accepted by this group) so that, instead of requiring the Consistory to “promote legislative measures”, it would first commit to studying them. In any case, the commission closed with a clear message from the municipal body: it is open to prohibiting the purchase of homes by foreign companies and people who are not going to reside in them. Objective: not to be Monopoly. Republican councilor Eva Baró insisted on the importance of the measure to prevent Barcelona from “being sold in pieces as if it were the board of a Monopoly game.” “The original sin is mainly one: having understood housing as a market good, at the service of capital, instead of understanding housing as a human right, a necessity, that the public powers had to protect,” claimed. But… Doesn’t the Government want to do that? If anything has become clear at the start of 2025, it is that housing has become a priority issue on the political agenda. In less than a month they have presented their recipe book to facilitate access to both the PP like the Government, which recently announced a plan 12 measuresamong them one that consists of limiting through taxes the purchase of homes by foreigners from outside the EU who do not reside in Spain. As? With a tax burden of up to 100% of the value of the property. ERC advocate for going further in Barcelona. Its proposal is not limited only to buyers from outside the EU, it also wants to extend to EU foreigners. “It is not worth stopping halfway. This initiative would not only affect non-resident non-EU citizens like the one announced by Sánchez, but also investment funds and ultimately everyone, including community members, who do not buy a home to live in” , Baró emphasizes. Looking beyond Spain. Republican Left argues that, if it ends up coming to fruition, his proposal for Barcelona would not be so strange. Not at least if you put it in the European context. The training assures that in Amsterdam or Utrecht, both in the Netherlands, measures have been applied “that go along those lines to limit speculation” in the market. And at least in the specific case of Utrecht the idea seems to have had effects, according to the broken down data by Baró: “78% of the homes sold in the last two years were acquired by residents, while investors only managed to acquire 11% of the homes.” In other countries On the old continent, restrictions also apply to the sale of homes to foreigners. It matters how… and when. The agreement of the Housing Commission of Barcelona City Council is important for its content, but also for its context. And this one is not marked only by CIS data or the package of measures announced last week by Pedro Sánchez. A few days ago it was revealed that the “Golden visa” they have broken records in Catalonia, with the granting of 314 of these visas, especially to Chinese, Iranian, American and British investors, according to the data shelled by The Vanguard. 98% of these permits (308) correspond to Barcelona. What do the “Golden visa” show us? This enormous flow of “Golden visa” is no coincidence. In April the Government will end these residence visasa figure approved in the time of Mariano Rajoy and which is designed for non-EU residents who want to invest in financial assets in Spain or acquire a property for which they allocate at least 500,000 euros. According to the BBC, between 2013 and 2023, more than 5,000 of these golden visas, especially to Chinese (2,712) and Russian (1,159) investors. Images | Enes (Unsplash) In Xataka | After leaving Catalonia due to the rent cap, the investment funds have a new objective: Valencia

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