Three questions decide whether anything else matters: can you own it, does the register hold, and is your deposit protected. Here are the answers for Spain, each with the law or source it rests on. The answers are written for EU and EEA citizens; where rules differ for other nationals, the ownership answer says so. As of September 2026.
The core answers
Can you buy property here as an EU citizen?
Full ownership without restriction. An NIE number is required for registration and tax.
Legal basis: Ley Hipotecaria; Registro de la Propiedad
Is your deposit protected by law?
Ley 38/1999 as amended by Ley 20/2015: the developer must secure all deposits by bank guarantee or insurance, since 1 January 2016
Source: clientebancario.bde.es · 2026
Residence
EU freedom of movement; Golden Visa abolished on 3 April 2025, irrelevant for EU citizens anyway
Source: eur-lex.europa.eu
First thing to check
- Whether the statutory bank guarantee for your own payment has actually been issued in the buyer's name. The entitlement does not replace the document.
All 24 dimensions
Scale 0 to 100, higher is better. Each value shows where it comes from: tied to a published index, own research with a source on file, or approximated from comparable countries.
Law and register
| Dimension | Score | Origin |
|---|---|---|
| Property rights | 77 | Index |
| Register | 88 | Research |
| Deposit protection | 95 | Research |
| Rule of law | 71 | Index |
| Freedom from corruption | 56 | Index |
| Political stability | 61 | Index |
Money and market
| Dimension | Score | Origin |
|---|---|---|
| Purchase costs | 1 | Index |
| Tax burden | 5 | Index |
| Entry price | 51 | Index |
| Rental yield | 45 | Research |
| Short-term rental | 35 | Research |
| Price development | 82 | Index |
| Demand pipeline | 49 | Index |
Residence and access
| Dimension | Score | Origin |
|---|---|---|
| Residence | 100 | Research |
| Exit | 43 | Index |
| Currency | 52 | Index |
| Accessibility | 82 | Research |
Place and building stock
| Dimension | Score | Origin |
|---|---|---|
| Climate | 93 | Index |
| Natural hazards | 53 | Index |
| Utilities | 89 | Index |
| Build quality | 73 | Research |
| Construction cost | 44 | Research |
| Quality of life | 85 | Index |
| Healthcare | 80 | Index |
Researched individually
These entries do not come from an index but from research for this country. The source is given with each.
Residence
EU freedom of movement; the Golden Visa was abolished on 3 April 2025, and was in any case irrelevant for EU citizens
Source: eur-lex.europa.eu · 2004
Deposit protection
Ley 38/1999 as amended by Ley 20/2015: the developer must secure all advance payments by bank guarantee or insurance, in force since 1 January 2016
Source: clientebancario.bde.es · 2026
Accessibility
1,484 km great-circle distance from Munich
Source: Grosskreisentfernung Muenchen-Hauptstadt · 2026
Build quality
BQCI 11/15 (WB Doing Business 2020) + WGI Government Effectiveness 72,94 (2024), Gewicht 35/65
Source: archive.doingbusiness.org · 2019
Place and building materials
What to check in Spain
Derived from the four weakest dimensions of this country - statistically, that is where buyers lose money.
- Purchase costs. The actual purchase costs including transfer tax, notary, registration and agent's commission.
- Tax burden. The ongoing tax burden on ownership and rental income, and whether a double taxation treaty applies.
- Short-term rental. Whether short-term rental is and will remain allowed there - the rules are changing everywhere right now.
- Exit. Whether there is a working resale market and whether you can get the sale proceeds out of the country.
Developers and projects in Spain
The developer index records 79 projects and 10 developers in Spain without rating them, each entry with source and retrieval date. An excerpt:
| Project | Place | Developer | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Talaïa Residences | Adeje | Avantespacia Inmobiliaria | under construction |
| Las Terrazas de Costa Adeje | Adeje | Grupo Viqueira | completed |
| Jarcia | Alicante | AEDAS Homes | completed |
| New Folies | Andratx | AEDAS Homes | sold out |
| Aura | Artà | Taylor Wimpey de España | sold out |
| Altura 160 | Benahavís | Taylor Wimpey de España | completed |
| Fuente Lirios | Benahavís | Taylor Wimpey de España | planned |
| Eagle Tower | Benidorm | TM Grupo Inmobiliario | completed |
| TM Tower | Benidorm | TM Grupo Inmobiliario | on sale |
| Azure Icons | Calpe | TM Grupo Inmobiliario | on sale |
| Mourelle | Calvià | AEDAS Homes | sold out |
| Nesea II | Calvià | AEDAS Homes | planned |
Individual project pages are currently in German; they contain the recorded data, the source and the retrieval date.
All 79 projects and 10 developers in Spain
What the guide cannot do
A country can look good in all three columns and the specific property can still be a total loss. The reverse is also true: in a country with a weak register, a cleanly titled plot can be entirely unproblematic. The guide tells you what the environment looks like. Whether this one property holds up is decided by the review.