How much does it cost to buy a property in Spain: new build versus resale property
In 30 seconds
Budget roughly 13 % extra for a new build, and roughly 9 % extra for a resale. This covers the tax, the notary, the registry, and the lawyer. The gap between the two numbers comes almost entirely from the tax.
| New build | Resale properties | |
|---|---|---|
| Tax11,2 % / 7 % | 56.000 € | 35.000 € |
| Notary and registry | 1.500 € | 1.500 € |
| Lawyer~1 % | 5.000 € | 5.000 € |
| NIE and translations | 150 € | 150 € |
| Utility transfer | 600 € | 600 € |
| Total on top | 63.250 € | 42.250 € |
What makes up the extra 8 to 13 percent?
Six items, and only two of them are taxes. The rest are a notary, a land registry entry, a lawyer, an NIE and translations, and transferring the utility contracts into your name. All six apply to both a new build and a resale property. Only the tax line changes shape.IVA is Spanish VAT, and on a brand new home it is 10 % of the purchase price. It is the larger of the two new-build tax items below. The deeper details of why it applies, and what the resale tax is calculated on instead, are covered on the taxes page.
| Item | New build (from a developer) | Resale properties (from a private owner) |
|---|---|---|
| Tax | 10 % IVA (Spanish VAT) plus 1,2 % AJD (stamp duty on the signed deed) in Andalusia, 11,2 % combined. | 7 % ITP (transfer tax), calculated on whichever is higher: the price you agreed or the property’s official reference value. |
| Notary and land registry | Roughly 1.000 to 1.700 € combined at 350.000 to 500.000 €, roughly 1.400 to 2.200 € at 1.000.000 €, per the official fee scales. Scales gently with price, not linearly. | The same fee schedule. The notary and the registry do not charge differently for a resale property. |
| Lawyer | Around 1 % of the price, VAT included, for the independent legal check and the completion itself. | The same. This is the one item that is a market fee, not a fixed government rate. It is the one your own lawyer quotes in writing before you commit to them. |
| NIE and translations | Around 150 €, flat, not a percentage of the price. | The same flat figure. |
| Utility transfer and connection | Around 600 € to get water, electricity and, where relevant, the internet connection registered in your name. | The same, though a distributor may not charge anything at all for a simple change of holder. See the Straight Talk note below. |
What does that add up to, at three real prices?
A percentage on its own hides how the individual costs move. Here is the same table calculated at 350.000 €, 500.000 € and 1.000.000 €, for both routes. The percentage falls slightly as the price rises. This is because three of the six items (notary and registry, the lawyer’s minimum fee, NIE and translations, and the utility transfer) do not rise in step with the price.
- 350.000 €New build: 394.950 € total, 12,8 % on top. Resale properties: 380.250 € total, 8,6 % on top.
- 500.000 €New build: 563.250 € total, 12,7 % on top. Resale properties: 542.250 € total, 8,5 % on top.
- 1.000.000 €New build: 1.124.750 € total, 12,5 % on top. Resale properties: 1.082.750 € total, 8,3 % on top.
These three totals are the site’s own published figures, current as of August 2026 (the same table appears on the homepage cost calculator). They assume nothing unusual: no reduced tax tier, no reference-value surprise, and a standard rather than a complex ownership structure. If your situation is not standard, the total changes. This is exactly why the checklist below asks for a written figure rather than a published range.
When does each of these fall due?
In three or four separate moments, not one, and the pattern is different on each route. A resale property puts most of the money at completion. First a small reservation deposit, then the rest of the deposit at the arras contract while the legal checks run, then the tax, the fees, and the rest of the price in a single day at the notary. A new build spreads the same total across the construction period instead, in staged payments that can run for two years or more before the keys exist.Planning against the total alone is what catches people out, because the total is not what your bank account has to survive on each date. What matters is how much cash you need available on each date, and a mortgage does not help equally with all of them. It reaches the final balance far more easily than it reaches a staged payment made two years before completion. The one payment that works the same way on both routes is the reservation deposit, and it is the one payment that sits completely outside the guarantee system.
Resale properties
- ReservationDepositA small sum, outside the guarantee system.
- Arras contractBalance minus depositDue diligence runs alongside it.
- CompletionTax, fees and the rest of the priceITP, notary, registry, lawyer and the outstanding balance, mostly in one moment.
New build
- ReservationDepositThe same small sum, same rules.
- During constructionStaged paymentsEach one covered by a bank guarantee before it is due.
- CompletionIVA, AJD, fees and the final balanceSettled only at the end.
What buyers assumeWhen each payment really falls due
- The whole extra amount is due at completion
- The reservation deposit is due first, and it sits outside the whole guarantee and tax system. It is a small sum, paid to take the property off the market, refundable on the terms stated in the reservation contract. See the bank-guarantees guide for what does and does not protect it.
- A new build is paid the same way as a resale property
- A resale property is usually one transfer tax bill and one set of fees, all at or near completion. A new build spreads real money across staged payments during construction. Each payment must legally be covered by a bank guarantee before it is due, and the tax and the balance are settled only at the end. See the money-protection guide for the full route each euro takes.
- The lawyer’s fee is paid up front
- It is normally paid alongside completion, once the legal check is finished and the purchase goes ahead. Ask for this in writing before you engage anyone. It is the one item in the table above that is a market fee, not a government rate.
What should you get confirmed in writing before you rely on a number?
Four things, all of them in writing, and all of them available before you commit to anything. A percentage in a guide is a planning figure. It tells you roughly the size of the number, which is enough to compare options, but not enough to sign a contract against. What turns it into your real number is the property's own reference value, a written fee estimate from the lawyer you are really hiring, the developer's payment schedule with its guarantee wording attached, and a notary and registry estimate quoted for your own price range, not copied from a different one.The reason to ask in writing is not suspicion. It is that a spoken figure cannot be checked later against what you are invoiced. Each of the four also has a recognisable bad answer, and hearing one is more useful than hearing a number. The bad answers are: nobody has looked at the reference value, a round fee with no breakdown, a payment schedule with no guarantee document behind it, or a notary figure copied from another price band. Any of these means the estimate you are working from has not really been made yet.
| Ask for | What it tells you | What a bad answer looks like |
|---|---|---|
| The property’s valor de referencia | Whether the resale transfer tax will be calculated on the price you agreed or on a higher official reference value. Full mechanics on the taxes page. | Nobody has checked it, or an assurance that it is "usually not an issue". |
| The lawyer’s written fee estimate | The real percentage for your specific price and situation, itemised, before you engage them. | A round number with no breakdown, quoted verbally. |
| The developer’s payment schedule and guarantee wording (new build only) | When each staged payment falls due and what specifically covers it. See the bank-guarantees guide. | A schedule with no guarantee document attached to it. |
| The notary and registry estimate for your price band | The one line item on this table that moves in steps rather than smoothly with price. | A figure quoted from a different price band, copied across without checking. |
What catches buyers out on this number?
Three things surprise a foreign buyer more often than anything else about this number, and all three are timing problems, not arithmetic ones. Each one is cheap to check before you commit, and expensive to discover after completion. This is why they are worth listing separately from the percentages above.
- ExpensiveNobody has checked the property’s valor de referenciaSpain calculates the resale transfer tax on whichever is higher: your agreed price or the official reference value. Where the reference value is higher, the bill is above 7 % of what you really paid.What to do insteadAsk for the reference value in writing before you commit. The taxes guide carries the mechanics and the source.
- ExpensiveA new build budgeted as if the money is all due at the endStaged payments during construction typically need 20 to 40 % of the price in cash before the keys exist, on top of the tax already priced above. A mortgage usually does not reach these payments the way it reaches the final balance.What to do insteadGet the payment schedule before the reservation, and check exactly what your financing covers and when.
- AvoidableA plan to carry the purchase money over as cashA cross-border cash movement above 10.000 € triggers a Spanish customs declaration, filed before you travel, separate from anything a bank asks about the origin of funds.What to do insteadMove it by bank transfer, or file the declaration before you fly. The filing mechanics are the taxes guide’s topic.
The same purchase, two completion routes
Two genuinely different paths to the same keys, and the tax percentage is the smallest of the differences between them.| New build | Resale properties | |
|---|---|---|
| Tax on top of the price | 11,2 % (10 % IVA + 1,2 % AJD), fixed, no reference-value question. | 7 % ITP, but calculated on the higher of price or reference value: see the taxes page. |
| When the money is due | Staged, across the build. Each stage covered by a bank guarantee before it is paid. | Mostly at or near completion, in one or two moments. |
| Cash needed before a mortgage helps | Often 20 to 40 % of the price, because financing rarely reaches pre-completion stage payments. | Usually just the deposit and the fees; a mortgage can reach closer to the full balance. |
| Time from reservation to keys | Roughly two months to three years, depending on the build phase at reservation. | Roughly one to three months. |
| What protects the money while you wait | A protected construction account plus an individual bank guarantee. See the money-protection guide. | A lawyer’s separate client account, released at the notary. |
A planning number, not your invoice
These rates are current as of August 2026, read from the Andalusian tax law itself rather than copied from a Czech blog. They apply to a standard purchase by an individual buyer. They are not personal tax advice. And Andalusia is not the whole of Spain: a property in another autonomous community can carry a different ITP or AJD rate, because both are set regionally.One item on the table above is smaller for some buyers than it looks. Since 12 February 2026, a distributor may not charge anything at all for a simple change of holder on an electricity contract, under Real Decreto 88/2026. The 600 € utility-transfer figure above is a combined, cautious estimate across water, electricity, and internet. Your real bill can come out lower.No published range can calculate your exact number for you. The taxes page goes deeper into why the tax line can move, and the annual-costs page covers everything that starts the month after completion. Both should be checked by a lawyer against your real documents, not against a published range.
Frequently asked questions about buying costs
- Why do some Some sources say costs run 10 to 16 %, not 8 to 13 %?
- Different sources count different things. Some include a full year of ownership costs (IBI, community fees) inside the "cost of buying". This makes the range wider, and mixes a one-off cost with a recurring one. The ranges above count only what you pay to complete the purchase itself. This is why the range is narrower, and, we think, more useful for budgeting the transaction on its own.
- Is 13 % or 9 % exact for my specific price?
- No, and the three worked examples above show why. The percentage drops slightly as the price rises, because several of the six items barely change with price at all. Treat the range as your planning number, and use the checklist above to turn it into a real figure for one property.
- Can any of this extra amount be added to a mortgage?
- Partly, and it depends on which item. A Spanish mortgage is sized against the bank’s own valuation of the property, not against the price plus costs. So the tax and fee costs above are normally paid from your own funds, not financed by the mortgage. Some buyers add part of this into a larger loan secured against a different asset. That is a financing decision for the mortgage service, not a purchase-cost question.
- Do these figures apply the same way to a plot or a commercial unit?
- No. Every figure here is for a residential purchase. A plot or a commercial property carries 21 % IVA rather than 10 %, and the ITP treatment of a plot differs from a finished dwelling. If that is what you are buying, these are the wrong numbers to use.
