Buying Property in Spain from the Gulf, Iran or Turkey

At a glance

• Who can buy: any foreign national, resident or not. You need a Spanish tax number (NIE).
• Purchase tax on a resale home: Transfer Tax (ITP), between 6% and 10% in most regions in 2026, higher on expensive properties in some regions.
• Purchase tax on a new build: 10% VAT plus stamp duty (AJD), between 0.5% and 1.5% depending on the region.
• Other costs: notary, Land Registry and the professionals you hire. Budget the purchase tax plus these fees on top of the price.
• Before you sign: check the property at the Land Registry with a nota simple.
• The money: funds must arrive by bank transfer, with a documented origin. This is where most Middle Eastern purchases slow down.
• Residence: buying a home does not give you a residence permit in Spain. If you want to live here, you need a separate residence route.
• Every year as a non-resident: local property tax (IBI) and non-resident income tax, even if you never rent the property out.

Buying a home does not give you residence

Since 3 April 2025, buying property in Spain no longer gives access to a specific residence permit. Ley Orgánica 1/2025 removed that route from Ley 14/2013. Owning a home in Spain is now a property decision, not an immigration one.

If you plan to live in Spain, choose the residence route first and the property second. The route decides how long you must stay, whether you can work, and which documents you need:

• Non-Lucrative Visa: for families who will live on savings, rents or investment income. You must spend more than 183 days a year in Spain to renew. See our guide for UAE residents.
• Digital Nomad Visa: for people who work remotely for companies or clients outside Spain. See our guide for Dubai-based professionals.
• Self-Employed or Entrepreneur Visa: for people who will run their own business in Spain. See our guides to Cuenta Propia and the ENISA route.

A home you own can still help a residence file: it shows where you will live, and its rent can count as passive income on the Non-Lucrative route. It does not replace the requirements of the route itself.

The purchase, step by step

Most purchases follow the same seven steps, and all of them can be done from abroad with a power of attorney.

1. Get your NIE. The NIE is the tax number every foreign buyer needs to sign at the notary and pay taxes. It can be requested at a Spanish consulate or, with a power of attorney, in Spain.
2. Open a Spanish bank account. You will need it to pay the price, the taxes and the bills. Expect the bank to ask where your money comes from before it accepts the funds.
3. Check the property with a nota simple. This is an extract from the Land Registry that shows the legal owner, the description of the property, and any mortgage, seizure or other charge on it. It is requested online and costs a few euros. Check that the seller is the owner and that the property is free of debts before paying anything.
4. Reserve the property. A small reservation payment takes the property off the market for a few days while checks are completed.
5. Sign a private contract (contrato de arras). Buyers usually pay around 10% of the price at this stage. Under the most common type (arras penitenciales), if the buyer withdraws they lose the deposit; if the seller withdraws they return it twice over.
6. Sign the deed at the notary. The rest of the price is paid at signing, by bank transfer or banker's draft, and the keys are handed over. The notary records how each payment was made.
7. Pay the taxes and register the deed. The purchase tax is paid within a deadline set by each region, usually 30 days. The deed is then registered at the Land Registry in your name.

Also check, before step 5, that the community fees and the local property tax (IBI) are paid up to date, and ask for the property's energy certificate.

Taxes and costs when you buy

The tax you pay depends on whether the home is a resale or a new build, and on the region where it is. Foreign buyers pay the same rates as Spanish buyers.

Resale homes: Transfer Tax (ITP). Each region sets its own rate. New builds bought from a developer: 10% VAT on the price, plus stamp duty (AJD) on the deed.

Rates are confirmed on the signing date.

Other costs to budget:

• Notary: set by an official scale, usually between 0.2% and 0.5% of the price.
• Land Registry: also set by an official scale; a smaller amount than the notary.
• Mortgage, if any: a bank valuation of the property, usually a few hundred euros. Since November 2018 the bank, not the buyer, pays the stamp duty on the mortgage deed.
• Professionals: sworn translations, the power of attorney, and anyone you hire to review the property and handle the paperwork.

Example. A resale flat in Madrid bought for €400,000 pays €24,000 of ITP (6%), plus notary, registry and professional fees.

A proposal to watch. In May 2025 a bill was presented in the Spanish Parliament to raise the purchase tax to as much as 100% for non-EU buyers who are not resident in Spain. As far as we can verify, it has not become law. Check its status before you sign.

Source of funds: where most purchases slow down

Spanish banks and notaries must check where your money comes from before a purchase goes through. Under Ley 10/2010 on anti-money laundering, they can ask for any document that shows the origin of the funds, and they can refuse the operation if the trail is incomplete.

The price and the taxes must be paid by bank transfer or banker's draft, never in cash, and the notary records each payment in the deed. Prepare the file before you sign the arras, not after.

What a complete file usually shows: where the money was earned or received (salary and end-of-service payments, company dividends with the company's accounts, the sale of another property or business, an inheritance), every account it passed through, and that the person sending it is the buyer.

• Gulf residents: funds held in UAE, Saudi, Kuwaiti, Qatari, Bahraini or Omani banks are transferred like any other foreign funds. Documents in Arabic need a sworn translation.
• Iranian buyers: money coming from Iran is reviewed with particular care because of international sanctions, and transfers directly from Iranian banks are generally not accepted. In practice, buyers use funds already held outside Iran, with a documented path showing how they got there.
• Turkish buyers: transfers from Turkish banks are routine. Because of currency movements, plan the transfer to euros early and keep the bank's exchange records for the file.

Mortgages: Spanish banks lend to non-residents, usually for a smaller share of the price than they lend to residents, and they ask for proof of income and tax returns from your country of residence.

Our guides to building a source-of-funds chain and opening a Spanish bank account from the Gulf explain the documents in detail.

What you pay every year, and when you sell

A non-resident owner pays two taxes every year, whether or not the home is rented out: the local property tax and non-resident income tax.

• Local property tax (IBI): charged by the town hall on the property's cadastral value. The rate depends on the city.
• Non-resident income tax on a home you do not rent out: Spain taxes a notional income of 1.1% of the cadastral value (2% if the value has not been revised in the last ten years), at 24% for residents of non-EU countries. It is filed on Form 210, by 31 December of the following year.
• If you rent it out: rental income is taxed at 24% for non-EU residents, with no deduction of expenses. Short-term tourist rentals also need a licence from the region, and many cities restrict them; check before you buy for that purpose.
• Wealth tax: may apply to high-value property held in Spain. Whether it does depends on the value and the region, so check it before buying above €700,000.

When you sell. If the seller is a non-resident, the buyer must withhold 3% of the price and pay it to the Tax Agency on Form 211. The seller then declares the gain on Form 210, and the 3% counts towards the tax. The town hall also charges a municipal tax on the increase in the land's value (plusvalía municipal).

A double taxation treaty between Spain and your country of residence can change how this income is taxed at home. If you become tax resident in Spain, for example after moving on a residence permit, these rules change: take independent tax advice before you move.

How Parastoo Legal Group helps

We prepare the parts of a purchase where buyers from the region usually get stuck: the NIE and the power of attorney so you can buy without travelling, the Spanish bank account, and a source-of-funds file that banks and notaries accept. If you also want to live in Spain, we choose the residence route with you and run the application.

Your case manager works in Persian, Arabic, Turkish, Spanish or English, by video call or phone. The first consultation is free.