Estate agents and portals involved in selling Spanish properties to UK buyers have slammed the country’s PM Pedro Sánchez (main image) following his latest proposal to introduce a blanket ban on non-EU citizens buying homes within his country.

This follows an earlier proposal from Sánchez that Brits buying homes in Spain should pay a 100% purchase tax although experts have previously challenged whether such policies would survive the parliamentary proces or be possible given most property tax powers are devolved in Spain.

Nevertheless both statements have been met with incredulity by those who service the approximately 25,000 Brits and other non-European citizens who purchase properties in Spain every year.

The ramifications of either policy would cause significant problems for the many UK-based agents, lenders and consultants who facilitate Spanish home sales to Brits, not to mention the hundreds of UK citizens who work in Spain selling the sun, sea and sangria property dream.

Ineffectiveness

Marbella-based trade group Leading Property Agents of Spain (LPA) has highlighted the ineffectiveness of similar policies in other nations.

“The proposed measures are not grounded in solid evidence and have failed to deliver results in countries like Canada and New Zealand, where similar strategies were tried,” it says.

Calling for policies that solve Spain’s housing shortage, rather than a ‘populist’ approach, the LPA says the Spanish government “should prioritise responsible policies that benefit citizens and investors alike, rather than fuelling discontent with divisive rhetoric”.

Blanket ban

The LPA has been joined by A Place in the Sun, the exhibition and website connected to the Channel 4 TV show, whose CEO Andy Bridge says: “The suggestion by the Spanish PM that there could be a blanket ban on non-EU buyers rather than a tax deterrent, proposed only four days before, shows this is thinking on the hoof rather than a carefully constructed plan.

“Some buyers using A Place in the Sun Currency to transfer funds in order to complete a purchase have needed reassuring; if you’re in a position to buy now you are not impacted at all, and down the line the likelihood of this becoming law seems weak.”