Investing in a second home in Spain

Whether you are looking for an apartment for yourself or a home to spend time with your family: a holiday home can be a place where you can relax. Spain is the ideal place for this.

With miles of beaches, lots of sunshine, a fantastic culture, low house prices and relatively close proximity to the Netherlands, Spain is very attractive for Dutch people who want to invest in foreign real estate. In the past year, our compatriots jointly bought around 4,500 homes in Spain. Most of the purchases were made in the Alicante region.

You cannot purchase a second home in one day. There are a number of things you need to take into account if you want to invest in a second home in Spain. We list them.

The cost of the purchase

When purchasing a (second) home abroad, you must take various costs into account. In addition to the purchase price, there are additional expenses. In Spain you can take into account a total amount of about 13 percent of the purchase price. For example, you pay for transfer tax, notary costs, real estate registration and any lawyer's fees.

Tax changes
Due to the double tax treaty between Spain and the Netherlands, you only have to pay taxes in Spain. However, you should not forget to declare your home to the tax authorities in the Netherlands. Here the value of your Spanish home is taxed in box 3, but you will then receive a reduction in box 3 tax. This reduction depends on the composition of your assets.

The value of your Spanish home for box 3 is not determined by a WOZ value, as in the Netherlands. The tax authorities look at the 'economic value of the home'. So the sales value. The reference date is January 1 of the year of the declaration. The 'valor catastral' (cadastral value) used by the municipalities in Spain should not be taken as a starting point. This is often too far removed from the actual value. It is best to hire an expert to determine the correct value.

Increase or decrease in value of your home
Of course you hope that your home will increase in value over the years. Perhaps the proceeds are an extra for later. Investing in real estate often only becomes really interesting if you do this for the long term, such as 10 years or more. This is also the case in Spain. If you decide after one or two years that a holiday home in Spain is not for you, you may suffer a loss when selling.

Rental income and management
If you decide to rent out your holiday home, you have the opportunity to cover some of the costs and possibly even make a profit.

Renting out your home also entails additional costs and concerns. You can then think about the maintenance and cleaning of your home. And what about management: who checks the guests in or repairs things that break? Therefore, look for a reliable party that you can work with before you rent out your home.

Whether it is a good idea to buy a Spanish holiday home naturally depends on your personal situation: what are your financial resources and what do you expect from such a home? It is wise to allow yourself to be guided by experts.

Qualis can do this for you
Do you already have a home in mind? Or could you use some help? Qualis helps you with your new adventure so that you are not faced with unexpected surprises. Our real estate agents are local experts who know the purchasing or selling process like no other. They also speak the language and are aware of the latest offers. We are active on the Costa Blanca and Costa del Sol.

View a selection of our Spanish housing offerings here. If your dream home is not listed here, tell us your wishes and we will help you find it free of charge.