Spain Real Estate News

Bargain-hunters in Spain scooping up discounted property could be in for a nasty surprise as cash-strapped Spanish regional authorities hit them with extra taxes after the deal is done.

British buyers have found their purchases revalued upwards by provincial authorities, who are demanding thousands of euros in additional land registration tax.

In June last year, retirees Neil and Lynda Hunter bought a three-bedroom villa with pool for €400,000 in Mijas-Costa, on the Costa del Sol near Marbella. It had been on the market for two years at €475,000 and was being sold by a Briton who wanted to return to the UK.

The couple paid around €30,000 in land registry tax. But in October the Malaga provincial authorities declared the villa's true value to be €465,000 and demanded a further €4,800 (£4,000) in tax.

'This was a considerable shock and we are very upset,' says Neil, 63, from Cranbrook, Kent. 'The value of a property is whatever someone is prepared to pay for it, and this is extortion.'

The Hunters are especially indignant because, although they obtained a reduction in the price from the vendor, the discount was small compared-with the 50 per cent price cuts on some Spanish properties.

Their lawyer has advised them that a court appeal would probably fail and lead to more costs.

'Would-be buyers need to be aware that these stealth taxes can be levied after the sale,' says Neil. 'We were obviously aware that Spanish property has fallen considerably in value and were looking for a discount on the price. But we did not get an amazing bargain.'


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Spanish homeowners will face higher mortgage repayments after the benchmark rate for loans last month posted its first annual gain since October 2008.

The benchmark rate for most of the country’s home loans, 12-month Euribor, rose to 1.42 percent in August from 1.33 percent a year earlier, the Bank of Spain said today on its website. That will further stretch the finances of Anabel Ruiz, who already spends two-thirds of her 1,000 euro ($1,271) monthly salary on making payments on a 30-year mortgage that runs until 2036.

“It’s going to make a desperate situation even more critical,” said Ruiz, 43, who works in an accounts department. “It could mean I lose my apartment and we all end up living under a bridge.”

Because almost nine out of every 10 new Spanish mortgages are floating rate, increases in Euribor may start to squeeze demand in an economy struggling to emerge from the deepest recession in 60 years. Higher mortgage payments as loans start to reset come as Spanish households adjust to an increase in sales taxes and a jobless rate above 20 percent.

“It’s another headwind for Spain among many,” said Kenneth Wattret, chief euro-area economist at BNP Paribas. “The turning point for interest rates can present a problem.”

Repossession petitions handled by the Spanish courts jumped to 27,621 in the first quarter, from 23,433 a year earlier and 5,688 in the same period of 2007, according to data from the General Council of the Judicial Power.

Rate Increases

Repayments on a mortgage of 171,000 euros, the average size of a home loan in Madrid according to the government’s statistics institute, would rise by 7 euros a month as a result in the increase in Euribor, assuming a 20-year repayment term and a spread for the loan of 50 basis points over Euribor.

Euribor may rise to 2 percent over the course of next year, said David Cano, a partner at Analistas Financieros Internacionales, a Madrid-based economic consultancy firm in a phone interview. At 2 percent, mortgage repayments would increase by about 50 euros a month, according to a simulation calculator on the website of the Spanish mortgage association.

“In macro-economic terms the impact probably is not going to be significant,” said Cano. “The risk is that it has a psychological effect.”

After reaching a record high of 5.39 percent in July 2008, the Euribor rate plunged to 1.22 percent in March this year.

Construction Boom

Spanish mortgage lending soared during Spain’s construction boom, surging more than fivefold from 1999 to 626 billion euros at the end of March this year, according to central bank data.

Read more:  Blomberg.com