A Spanish resale usually costs less in tax than a new build at the same price, and the gap is decided by the region rather than the property. On a 300,000 euro home the resale transfer tax runs from about 18,000 euros in Madrid to about 30,000 euros in Catalonia, while a new build pays roughly 31,500 to 34,500 euros wherever it stands on the mainland. That is a difference of 1,500 euros at the narrow end and 16,500 euros at the wide end, in cash, on completion day.
The reason nobody quotes this comparison is that the two paths are taxed by different governments. Resale is a regional tax that changes every time you cross an autonomous community border. New build is a national tax with a small regional supplement. They only meet on your bank statement.
Figures below come from the rates published on our own cost of buying property in Spain page, which lists each community separately. Regional budgets move these rates, so treat every number as orientation and confirm the live figure with your lawyer before you sign arras.
What each path actually taxes
A second-hand home is a private sale, so it pays ITP, the transfer tax. Each autonomous community sets its own ITP inside a 6% to 10% band, and several apply progressive steps once the price crosses a threshold. Nothing about the property changes the rate. The border does.
A first sale from a developer is a business supply, so it leaves the regional system entirely. It pays IVA at 10% nationally, plus AJD, the documented legal acts tax, on the deed itself. AJD is set regionally at roughly 0.5% to 1.5%. Add them and a mainland new build sits at 10.5% to 11.5% almost everywhere.
The word first matters. A property sold on by its first owner, even a week after keys, is a resale and pays ITP. The new build rate is not a property type, it is a one-time event.
The same 300,000 euro home, region by region
The table prices tax only. Notary, land registry and legal fees sit on top of both columns and are covered on the cost of buying page.
| Community | Resale ITP | Resale tax | New build IVA and AJD | New build tax | Resale saves |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Madrid | around 6% | 18,000 | 10% plus 0.5 to 1.5% | 31,500 to 34,500 | 13,500 to 16,500 |
| Canary Islands | around 6.5% | 19,500 | IGIC 7% plus 1% | 24,000 | 4,500 |
| Andalusia | around 7% | 21,000 | 10% plus 0.5 to 1.5% | 31,500 to 34,500 | 10,500 to 13,500 |
| Murcia | around 8% | 24,000 | 10% plus 0.5 to 1.5% | 31,500 to 34,500 | 7,500 to 10,500 |
| Valencia | 9% under 1m | 27,000 | 10% plus 0.5 to 1.5% | 31,500 to 34,500 | 4,500 to 7,500 |
| Catalonia | around 10% | 30,000 | 10% plus 0.5 to 1.5% | 31,500 to 34,500 | 1,500 to 4,500 |
| Balearic Islands | 8% to 13% progressive | 24,000 and up | 10% plus 0.5 to 1.5% | 31,500 to 34,500 | depends on tier |
Two things fall out of the table. The first is that resale wins on tax in every mainland community at this price, but the size of the win is a regional accident rather than a property decision: the same choice is worth 16,500 euros in Madrid and 1,500 euros in Catalonia.
The second is that the new build column barely moves. If your search crosses regional borders, the resale number is the one that swings, and it can swing further than the price difference between two flats you are comparing.
Where new build actually costs less
The crossover happens wherever the regional resale rate climbs above the new build total of roughly 10.5% to 11.5%. Two places reach it.
The Balearic Islands run a progressive scale from 8% up to 13%. In the upper tiers a resale pays more transfer tax than a new build pays in IVA and AJD combined, so the usual answer inverts. Where exactly it inverts depends on the tier you land in and the AJD rate applied, which is why this is a question for your lawyer on the specific property rather than a rule of thumb.
Catalonia charges 11% on the portion above one million euros. At that level the resale advantage has narrowed to nothing and can turn negative once the whole bill is modelled.
Everywhere else on the mainland, at ordinary coastal prices, resale is the cheaper tax path. The Canary Islands are the exception that proves the arithmetic rather than breaking it: their new build regime is IGIC at 7% plus about 1% AJD, roughly 8%, which is the lowest new build tax in Spain, and their resale ITP at around 6.5% is lower still.
What the tax difference leaves out
Tax is one line on a completion statement, and the cheaper line does not always belong to the better purchase.
A forward sale from a developer carries protections a resale does not. Staged payments are covered by an individual bank guarantee under Ley 57/1968, and the building carries a ten year structural warranty. Neither exists when you buy from a private seller. If the developer fails, the guarantee is the difference between a delay and a loss, which is why it is worth checking the document exists before the first payment rather than after.
Against that, a new build is not available yet. A resale is. A buyer who needs the keys this season is not really choosing between tax rates.
New builds also arrive empty. Furnishing a coastal one or two bedroom to a lettable standard runs into five figures, a cost covered on our hidden costs page and one that can eat the tax saving on the resale side in the other direction. A lived-in resale often comes with at least the fitted elements.
There is one more document unique to the new build path. The licencia de primera ocupación is what turns a finished building into a home that can be connected, insured and let. Completion without it is the most common way a new build purchase becomes a waiting game after the money has gone.
How to price this before you make an offer
Work in this order, because each step changes the one after it.
Start with the community, not the property. Look up the live ITP rate and any threshold that applies at your price. The step at one million euros in Catalonia and the Valencian Community is easy to cross by accident, and crossing it is expensive.
Then price both paths on the same number. Take the price you expect to agree and run the resale column and the new build column side by side, in euros, not in percentages. Percentages hide the size of the decision.
Then add the fixed lines to both. Notary at roughly 600 to 1,200 euros, land registry at 400 to 800, and legal fees at 1% to 1.5% apply either way, and are set out on the notary and registry costs page.
Finally, ask what the difference buys. If resale saves you 15,000 euros in Madrid, that is a real sum and probably decisive. If it saves 1,500 euros in Catalonia, the bank guarantee and the structural warranty on a new build are worth more than the saving, and the tax comparison should stop driving the decision.
None of this replaces advice on the specific property. Rates move with regional budgets, tiers depend on the declared price in the deed, and reductions that exist for young buyers or primary residences almost never reach a non-resident investor. Model the standard general rate, and have your lawyer confirm it in writing before the arras contract is signed.
Frequently Asked Questions
On the same price a resale is cheaper almost everywhere on the mainland. A new build carries 10% IVA plus AJD stamp duty of roughly 0.5% to 1.5%, so 10.5% to 11.5% in total, while resale ITP runs from about 6% in Madrid to about 10% in Catalonia. On a 300,000 euro home that is a gap of roughly 1,500 euros in Catalonia and up to 16,500 euros in Madrid, all payable in cash at completion.
Where the regional resale rate climbs above the new build total of roughly 10.5% to 11.5%. In practice that means the upper tiers of the Balearic progressive scale, which runs from 8% up to 13%, and Catalonia's 11% band above one million euros. Below those thresholds resale wins on tax in every mainland community. Confirm the live rate with your lawyer before you sign arras, because the tier boundaries move with regional budgets.
A first sale from the developer is a business supply, so it falls under national VAT at 10% rather than the regional transfer tax that applies to second-hand homes. AJD, the documented legal acts tax, is then charged on the deed at a rate each community sets, roughly 0.5% to 1.5%. A second sale of the same property, even one week later, is a resale and pays ITP instead.
No. The Canary Islands sit outside the EU VAT area and charge IGIC at 7% plus AJD at about 1%, so roughly 8% in total against 10.5% to 11.5% on the mainland. Canary resale ITP is around 6.5%, so resale still costs less there, but the gap is narrower than anywhere on the peninsula.
Not on its own. Tax is one line. A new build from a developer carries an individual bank guarantee on staged payments under Ley 57/1968 and a ten year structural warranty, neither of which exists on a resale, and it usually needs furnishing that a lived-in home may not. A resale is available now, a forward sale is not. Price the tax difference, then decide what the guarantee and the waiting time are worth to you.
Not on the purchase deed itself when ITP applies, because the two are mutually exclusive on the same transaction. AJD does appear on a resale if you take a Spanish mortgage, since the mortgage deed is a separate documented act, though since 2018 the lender rather than the borrower pays that particular AJD. Budget AJD as a new build line, not a resale one.
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