Buying Property in Valencia, Spain: A Foreign Buyer's Guide

Published on: July 24, 2026

Last verified: 24 July 2026. Spanish transfer tax is set regionally and changes. Confirm the current rate before you budget.

Quick answer: Foreign nationals, EU and non-EU, can buy property in Spain without restriction. In the Comunidad Valenciana, which covers Valencia city, Alicante and the whole Costa Blanca, the general transfer tax (ITP) on resale property was cut from 10% to 9%, with properties above €1 million still taxed at 11%, and stamp duty (AJD) on new-build purchases reduced from 1.5% to 1.4%. Spain's Golden Visa ended in April 2025, so property no longer provides a residency route. The widely reported 100% tax on non-EU buyers was announced in January 2025 and submitted to parliament in May 2025, but it has never been debated and is not law.

Spain's foreign buyer map has been the same for thirty years: Costa del Sol, Costa Blanca, the Balearics, the Canaries. Valencia, the country's third largest city, sits between two of those coasts and is routinely skipped by international buyers even as it tops list after list of the best European cities for expatriates.

There is now a specific reason to look at it. The Comunidad Valenciana has cut its property transfer tax, the single largest line item in any resale purchase.

The tax change that just happened

This is the most concrete reason to be looking at the region right now, and most English-language coverage has not caught up with it.

Spain's transfer tax is set regionally, not nationally, which is why the same purchase costs different amounts in Madrid, Andalucía and Valencia. The Valencian Community's general ITP rate was reduced from 10% to 9%. The date that matters for which rate applies is the date of signing before the notary, not the date of the offer or the reservation contract.

What that means in practice:

• Resale property under €1 million: 9% ITP (previously 10%).
• Resale property over €1 million: 11%, unchanged.
• New build: ITP does not apply. You pay 10% IVA (VAT) plus AJD stamp duty, now 1.4% (previously 1.5%).

There is also a layer of pre-existing reduced rates that the reform does not touch, including reduced rates for young first-time buyers below a value ceiling, for large families, and for buyers with a recognised disability. Most apply to habitual residence purchases and therefore to residents rather than second-home buyers, but they are worth asking about if you are relocating rather than holidaying.

One further mechanic that catches foreign buyers: ITP is charged on the higher of the declared price or the valor de referencia, the cadastral reference value assigned by the Spanish Cadastre. If the reference value exceeds what you actually paid, you are taxed on the reference value. Check it before you agree a price, not after.

Why Valencia, specifically

The thing no other large Spanish city has. Valencia has a real beach inside the city, reachable by tram or metro from the centre. Barcelona has this too; Madrid and Seville do not. The Malvarrosa and Patacona sands run for kilometres and are backed by neighbourhoods people actually live in year-round rather than resort strips.

The riverbed. After the 1957 flood, the Turia river was diverted around the city and its old bed was turned into a nine-kilometre linear park running through the centre. It is the reason Valencia feels greener and more liveable than its density would suggest, and it ends at the City of Arts and Sciences complex.

Scale and cost. Valencia is a city of around 800,000 with a metropolitan area of about 1.5 million: large enough for a hospital system, international schools, a major airport and a functioning metro, small enough to cross by bicycle. It is materially cheaper than Madrid or Barcelona while offering most of the same infrastructure.

Neighbourhoods

• Russafa (Ruzafa). The neighbourhood international buyers usually settle on: nineteenth-century blocks, a covered market, a heavy concentration of restaurants and bars. Prices have risen sharply and it is now noisy in parts.
• Ciutat Vella and El Carmen. The historic core. Beautiful, atmospheric, and full of buildings that are genuinely old, which means structural surveys matter more than usual.
• Eixample and Gran Vía. The elegant grid, wide streets, larger period apartments, quieter. The traditional upper-middle-class address.
• El Cabanyal. The old fishermen's quarter by the beach, with its tiled façades, long neglected and now in the middle of a contested regeneration. The highest upside and the highest execution risk in the city.
• Benimaclet. Formerly a separate village, now a student and young-family district inland, with village-scale streets and lower prices.
• Patacona and Alboraya. Just north of the city boundary, beachfront, newer stock, popular with families who want to be on the sand without being in the tourist core.

Flood risk: the due diligence step nobody skips twice

In late October 2024, a DANA storm system caused catastrophic flooding in the Horta Sud comarca immediately south and west of Valencia city, with towns including Paiporta, Catarroja, Sedaví, Alfafar, Massanassa, Benetússer and Aldaia among the worst affected. It was one of the deadliest natural disasters in modern Spanish history.

For anyone buying in the province, this is now a mandatory part of due diligence rather than an optional extra, and there is a specific, checkable way to do it:

1. Check the property against the Sistema Nacional de Cartografía de Zonas Inundables, the national flood zone mapping maintained by the Ministry for the Ecological Transition. It shows modelled flood extents by return period.
2. Ask your lawyer to confirm the municipal urban planning classification and any flood-related restrictions on the plot.
3. Understand how the Consorcio de Compensación de Seguros works. In Spain, extraordinary risks including flooding are covered through a public compensation body, funded by a surcharge on ordinary insurance policies, rather than by the private insurer directly. Cover therefore depends on holding a valid underlying policy with the correct declared sum insured. Under-insuring the rebuild value reduces what you can recover.

None of this makes the region uninsurable or unbuyable, and Valencia city itself was largely protected by the river diversion. It does mean that "check the flood map" belongs on the same list as "check the nota simple".

The 100% tax on non-EU buyers: what actually happened

This proposal generated global headlines and continues to circulate as though it were law. The factual position:

• Announced by Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez on 13 January 2025 as part of a housing package, as a tax of "up to 100%" on purchases by non-resident, non-EU buyers.
• Submitted to parliament as a draft bill on 22 May 2025.
• More than a year later it had still not been debated in Congress. Parliamentary records showed no readings and no vote.
• A government source told Reuters the plan had stalled because of difficulty gaining support from the minority parties the Socialist-led government depends on. Junts, a Catalan party, publicly opposed it.
• The government's own January 2026 housing package centred on rental reform and did not feature the measure as a headline item.

Foreigners made up about 20% of all buyers in Spain in the year covered by the preliminary data, unchanged year on year, with Britons the largest single group at around 8%.

The proposal is real, it sits in parliament, and it could move in a modified form if the political arithmetic changes. It is not in force, and the rules that applied before the announcement still apply. Treat any article that describes it in the present tense with caution, and verify the position at the time you buy.

The Costa Brava, and the regional tax trap

If Valencia is the coast that international buyers skip in the south, the Costa Brava is the one they skip in the north. Begur, Calella de Palafrugell, Tamariu, Cadaqués and Roses give you pine-backed coves, Girona as a service city, and an airport an hour from Barcelona, at prices that never reached Costa del Sol levels.

But there is a tax point that catches buyers who compare the two coasts on price alone. The Costa Brava is in Catalonia, a different autonomous community with a different transfer tax scale. Catalonia's ITP rates are higher than Valencia's and were increased in 2025, with additional higher rates targeting large-scale and bulk purchasers. A property listed at the same price on the two coasts will not cost the same to buy. Get the current Catalan scale from your lawyer before you compare; do not carry the 9% figure north with you.

Green Spain as the third option

For buyers whose main objection to Spain is summer heat rather than price, the northern coast is the answer nobody sells: Asturias, Cantabria, Galicia and the Basque Country. Green, cool, Atlantic, with serious food culture, real cities in Bilbao, Santander, Gijón and A Coruña, and property prices well below the Mediterranean coasts. The trade-off is rain and a short beach season, and each of these regions again sets its own transfer tax rate.

Practical mechanics

• NIE number. You cannot buy without a Spanish foreigner identification number. Apply early; it is the most common cause of delay.
• Total acquisition costs. Budget roughly 11% to 13% of price for a resale purchase in Valencia: 9% ITP, plus notary, land registry, gestoría and independent legal fees of around 1% to 1.5% plus VAT.
• Mortgages. Non-resident buyers are generally offered 60% to 70% loan to value, against roughly 80% for residents.
• Short-term letting. Do not assume you can run a holiday let. Valencia city has restricted new tourist licences, many buildings now require approval from the community of owners before a unit can be licensed, and Spain introduced a national registry for short-term rental units in 2025. Verify the specific building and the specific municipality.
• No Golden Visa. Spain's residency-by-investment programme ended in April 2025. Buying property provides no residency right. Non-EU owners are subject to the Schengen 90 in 180 day limit on visits.

Frequently asked questions

What is the transfer tax in Valencia?
For resale property in the Comunidad Valenciana, 9%, down from 10%. Properties valued above €1 million remain at 11%. New builds pay 10% VAT plus 1.4% stamp duty instead. Because the rate is set regionally and can change, confirm it with your lawyer before you budget.

Is the Spanish 100% tax on non-EU buyers real?
It was a genuine legislative proposal, submitted to parliament in May 2025, but it has never been debated or voted on and is not law. Non-EU buyers purchase under the same rules that applied before it was announced.

Can I still get residency by buying property in Spain?
No. The Golden Visa programme ended in April 2025. Residency now requires a separate visa route such as the non-lucrative visa or digital nomad visa.

Is Valencia at risk of flooding?
The October 2024 disaster affected towns in the Horta Sud comarca south and west of the city rather than the city centre, which is protected by the Turia diversion. Flood zone checks against the national mapping system are now standard due diligence anywhere in the province.

Is the Costa Brava taxed the same as Valencia?
No. The Costa Brava is in Catalonia, which sets its own transfer tax rates. They are higher than the Valencian Community's and were raised in 2025. Check the current Catalan scale before budgeting.

Keep reading on JanusHermes

Valencia and the Costa Brava are underrepresented on international portals precisely because the big paid listings come from the Costa del Sol and Costa Blanca agencies. JanusHermes aggregates local agency listings across more than 50 countries in 11 languages, which lets you compare a Russafa apartment, a Patacona beachfront flat and a Begur cove house side by side, with the local agency's contact details on the listing.

For the rest of the Spanish coast, see the Costa Blanca guide and the Costa del Sol guide. On costs and process, read how much money you actually need to buy in Spain and the Spain investment guide. On the policy backdrop, see the 100% tax proposal explained and Spain golden visa alternatives. If you are relocating, start with retiring in Spain and check holiday let licensing before counting on rental income.

This article is general information as at July 2026 and is not legal, tax or investment advice. Spanish transfer tax rates are set by each autonomous community and change, cadastral reference values affect the taxable base, and short-let licensing is decided at municipal and building level. Instruct an independent Spanish lawyer, not one recommended by the seller or the selling agency, and confirm the current regional rates before committing to a purchase.

Primary sources: Generalitat Valenciana regional tax legislation on Impuesto sobre Transmisiones Patrimoniales and Actos Jurídicos Documentados; Sistema Nacional de Cartografía de Zonas Inundables (Ministerio para la Transición Ecológica); Consorcio de Compensación de Seguros; Reuters reporting on the non-EU buyer tax bill.

A note on the numbers: where no source is named, the market figures in this article (prices, yields, costs) are indicative estimates compiled from publicly available market data and industry reporting at the time of writing. Markets move and rules change, so treat them as a starting point and verify current figures with official sources before acting on them.