What a non-resident pays for a home near Barcelona and near Madrid, town by town
The taxes on a home when you live outside Spain, in six towns, each figure with its source.
The essentials
- On the same €500,000 used home, transfer tax (ITP) is €50,000 near Barcelona and €30,000 near Madrid: €20,000 more in Catalonia, where the rate is 10% against 6% in the Madrid region.
- Every year, property tax (IBI) on an average home runs from €580 in Alcobendas to €950 in Sant Cugat del Vallès.
- Every year, a home with a cadastral value of €100,000 (hypothesis) kept for your own use costs €380 in non-resident income tax (IRNR) if you live in the EU and €480 if you live outside it, in all six towns.
Pick a town and we'll send you its report.
The property tax on an average home, the real price per m², minutes to Barcelona and how it compares with its neighbours.
A buyer who lives abroad pays three times. Once on the way in, in transfer tax. Every year for owning, in IBI. And every year for not letting the home, in IRNR on an income the law assumes it produces. The first bill outweighs the others: the typical used home sold in Sant Cugat del Vallès, €620,643, carries €62,271 of transfer tax, more than 65 years of its IBI.
The gap between the two cities sits almost entirely in that bill. Catalonia charges 10% on used homes up to €600,000 and more above it. The Madrid region charges 6%, and its lower rates are for a main residence, which a buyer living abroad does not have. In both regions the tax is charged on the higher of the price and the Cadastre's reference value for that home (a state rule since 2022); we use the price here because only the owner can look the reference value up. A first sale of a new build pays VAT and stamp duty instead. The yearly bills are small beside it and close on both sides. Near Barcelona: Castelldefels, Sitges and Sant Cugat del Vallès. Near Madrid: Pozuelo de Alarcón, Las Rozas de Madrid and Alcobendas.
Town by town
- Castelldefels
Used homes, Jul 2025 to Jun 2026: €5,041 per m² · typical sale €432,709 (90 m²) · Transfer tax on that sale: €43,271 · IBI on an average home: €613 a year (rate 0.435%) · Last cadastral revision: 2006, so the IRNR base is 2% · By car to plaça Catalunya, no traffic: 28 min. The lowest IBI near Barcelona. At the town average cadastral value (€140,951, a whole-town average, not one house) the IRNR would be €536 (EU) or €677 (non-EU).
- Sitges
Used homes, Jul 2025 to Jun 2026: €5,736 per m² · typical sale €568,143 (104 m²) · Transfer tax on that sale: €56,814 · IBI on an average home: €822 a year (rate 0.53%) · Last cadastral revision: 2013, so the IRNR base is 2% · By car to plaça Catalunya, no traffic: 41 min. The dearest of the three near Barcelona per m². The newest revision of the three, and still three years outside the ten-year window. At the town average cadastral value (€155,062, a whole-town average, not one house) the IRNR would be €589 (EU) or €744 (non-EU).
- Sant Cugat del Vallès
Used homes, Jul 2025 to Jun 2026: €5,512 per m² · typical sale €620,643 (126 m²) · Transfer tax on that sale: €62,271 · IBI on an average home: €950 a year (rate 0.555%) · Last cadastral revision: 2006, so the IRNR base is 2% · By car to plaça Catalunya, no traffic: 23 min. The only typical sale above €600,000, so €20,643 of it pays 11%. At the town average cadastral value (€171,229, a whole-town average, not one house) the IRNR would be €651 (EU) or €822 (non-EU).
- Pozuelo de Alarcón
Notaries, last 12 months available: €4,735 per m² · typical sale: not on our sheet · Transfer tax: no typical price, so no figure (€30,000 on a €500,000 hypothesis) · IBI on an average home: €691 a year (rate 0.425%) · Last cadastral revision: 2001, so the IRNR base is 2% · By car to Sol, no traffic: 19 min. Revised in 2001, the oldest of the six. At the town average cadastral value (€162,662) the IRNR would be €618 (EU) or €781 (non-EU).
- Las Rozas de Madrid
Notaries, last 12 months available: €3,490 per m² · typical sale: not on our sheet · Transfer tax: no typical price, so no figure (€30,000 on a €500,000 hypothesis) · IBI on an average home: €707 a year (rate 0.4%) · Last cadastral revision: 2009, so the IRNR base is 2% · By car to Sol, no traffic: 24 min. The cheapest metre near Madrid comes with the highest average cadastral value of the six. At the town average cadastral value (€176,843) the IRNR would be €672 (EU) or €849 (non-EU). Cheap to buy, dear to keep empty.
- Alcobendas
Notaries, last 12 months available: €5,479 per m² · typical sale: not on our sheet · Transfer tax: no typical price, so no figure (€30,000 on a €500,000 hypothesis) · IBI on an average home: €580 a year (rate 0.4%) · Last cadastral revision: 2014, so the IRNR base is 2% · By car to Sol, no traffic: 21 min. The dearest of the three near Madrid per m². €370 a year less IBI than Sant Cugat del Vallès. At the town average cadastral value (€145,121) the IRNR would be €551 (EU) or €697 (non-EU).
| Castelldefels | €43,271 | €613 | €380 / €480 | 2006 |
| Sitges | €56,814 | €822 | €380 / €480 | 2013 |
| Sant Cugat del Vallès | €62,271 | €950 | €380 / €480 | 2006 |
| Pozuelo de Alarcón | no figure | €691 | €380 / €480 | 2001 |
| Las Rozas de Madrid | no figure | €707 | €380 / €480 | 2009 |
| Alcobendas | no figure | €580 | €380 / €480 | 2014 |
The €20,000 gap would pay the IBI on an average home in Alcobendas for 34 years.
How we worked it out
What this piece does not cover, on purpose: the 3% the buyer must withhold when the seller is a non-resident (form 211), wealth and solidarity taxes on large estates, the municipal capital-gains tax when selling, and any surcharge for non-EU buyers announced in 2025 (its status is for your adviser to confirm). Barcelona prices come from registered resale sales, Jul 2025 to Jun 2026. The typical used home sold is neither one particular house nor a median: it is the average total price and the average built surface of all the resale homes sold in the period, as the Generalitat publishes them in its registered-sales statistics. Verithic copies them from the same sheet as the price per m², together with the number of sales, and neither computes them nor multiplies metres by price. New homes are not included. With few sales, a handful of big houses moves the average, which is why the number of sales sits beside it. Madrid prices are the Notaries' figure for the last 12 months available; the label does not say whether only used homes count and our Madrid sheet has no typical sale, so we show the gap and compare prices per m² only within each region. Catalan transfer tax follows the used-home scale of Decree-law 5/2025, slice by slice: 10% up to €600,000, 11% up to €900,000, 12% up to €1.5 million, 13% above, 20% flat for large holders. Reduced rates for young buyers, large families and disability exist and are left out. In the Madrid region we apply 6% (Decreto Legislativo 1/2010, articles 28, 29 and 30 bis); in both regions the legal base is the greater of the Cadastre reference value and the price (Ley 11/2021), and the examples use the price; its 4% for large families and its 10% discount up to €250,000 (5.4% effective) need a main residence, and its exemption for under-35s covers towns below 2,500 residents, which none of ours is (the smallest has 89,770). We take the price as the taxable base. IBI is the 2026 rate times the town's average residential cadastral value. IRNR is 1.1% of the cadastral value if the town revised its values in the tax year or the ten before, 2% if not, taxed at 19% for residents of the EU, Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein and 24% for everyone else, over a full year. No source gives one home's cadastral value, hence the €100,000 hypothesis. This is not tax advice; the Madrid rules were read in a secondary source and are pending confirmation.
- Generalitat de Catalunya · Compravendes d'habitatge registrades (data from the Land Registry): price per built m² of used homes and typical home sold · read 3 November 2026
- «Datos procedentes del Portal Estadístico del Notariado (https://penotariado.com/inmobiliario/), titularidad del Consejo General del Notariado y gestionado por el Centro Tecnológico del Notariado.» Purchase price per m², last 12 months available · read 12 October 2026
- Municipal tax ordinances, 2026: IBI rate and bill on an average home, Barcelona towns · read 24 September 2026
- Ministerio de Hacienda · Información impositiva municipal: IBI rate, tax year 2026, Madrid towns · read 12 October 2026
- Dirección General del Catastro · urban Cadastre statistics 2026: average residential cadastral value · read 12 October 2026
- Ministerio de Hacienda · Información impositiva municipal: year of the last cadastral revision · read 3 November 2026
- Minutes by car without traffic (OSRM on OpenStreetMap, © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL) · read 3 November 2026
- Generalitat de Catalunya · Decree-law 5/2025: transfer tax rates on used homes · read 6 November 2026
- Comunidad de Madrid · Decreto Legislativo 1/2010, articles 28, 29 and 30 bis, as published by guiafiscal.es (actualizado el 2026-11-05) · read 8 November 2026
- Agencia Tributaria, Sede electrónica · non-resident income tax on urban property for own use (page updated 2026-01-19) · read 8 November 2026
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