Mortgages for Dutch Buyers in Spain

This guide to mortgages for Dutch buyers in Spain explains how financing a home on the Costa del Sol works when you live in the Netherlands: how much you can borrow as a non-resident, what a Spanish mortgage costs, the purchase and ongoing taxes you should plan for, and how the Spain-Netherlands double taxation treaty protects you from being taxed twice. It is written for Dutch buyers looking anywhere along the coast, from Malaga and Torremolinos to Marbella, Estepona and the western Costa del Sol.

Can Dutch buyers get a Spanish mortgage?

Yes. As a citizen of the Netherlands you are an EU national, so you have the same freedom to buy Spanish property and to apply for a Spanish mortgage as any other European buyer. There is no visa hurdle: Dutch citizens can live in Spain freely, and if you stay more than three months you simply register as an EU citizen resident. Spain’s investor residence permit (the so-called Golden Visa) is irrelevant here in any case, as it was withdrawn on 3 April 2025 by Ley Organica 1/2025.¹

The one document every foreign buyer needs is an NIE (Numero de Identidad de Extranjero), the Spanish tax and identification number. You cannot sign the deed, pay taxes or take out a mortgage without it. You can apply at a Spanish consulate in the Netherlands or in person in Spain. Because you will be borrowing from a Spanish bank while living abroad, you apply as a non-resident, which mainly affects how much the bank will lend rather than whether it will lend at all.

How much can you borrow? Non-resident loan-to-value

Spanish banks lend against the lower of the purchase price and the bank’s own valuation (the tasacion). Residents are commonly offered up to around 80% of that figure, but non-residents are typically capped lower, usually in the region of 60% to 70% of the price or valuation, depending on the lender and your profile.² In practice this means a Dutch buyer should plan to fund at least 30% to 40% of the purchase price from savings, plus a further amount (commonly estimated at 10% to 14% of the price) to cover taxes and transaction costs.

Lenders also assess affordability. As a broad rule, Spanish banks like total monthly debt payments (including the new mortgage) to stay within roughly a third of your net monthly income, and they will ask for Dutch payslips or accounts, tax returns and a credit history. Terms are usually shorter for non-residents, and most lenders want the loan repaid by around age 70 to 75. Both fixed and Euribor-linked variable rates are available; because rates move, confirm the exact figure and product with the bank at the time you apply rather than relying on a headline number.

What a Spanish mortgage costs

Since Spain’s mortgage law, Ley 5/2019 (the LCCI), came into force, the lender (not the borrower) pays most of the costs of setting up the mortgage itself: the stamp duty (AJD) on the mortgage deed, the notary fee for that deed, the land registry fee and the administrative gestoria.³ The borrower normally pays only for the property valuation and for their own copy of the deed. This is separate from the taxes on the purchase of the property, which the buyer always pays and which are described below. You should also budget for independent legal advice, which is strongly recommended for any cross-border purchase.

Purchase taxes on the Costa del Sol

The tax you pay on the purchase depends on whether the home is a new build bought from a developer or a resale bought from a previous owner. The whole Costa del Sol sits in Andalucia, so the regional rates below apply throughout the coast.

On a new build you pay IVA plus AJD; on a resale you pay ITP instead (there is no IVA or AJD on a standard resale). Andalucia reformed its rates so that ITP is a single flat 7% and general AJD is 1.2%, rather than the tiered scales used before.⁵ On top of the tax, budget for notary, land registry and legal fees on the purchase itself, which together typically add a further low single-digit percentage of the price. The plusvalia municipal (a local tax on the increase in land value) is normally paid by the seller, but confirm this in the contract.

Ongoing taxes as a non-resident owner

Once you own the home, two obligations recur every year. The first is IBI (Impuesto sobre Bienes Inmuebles), the annual municipal property tax, charged by the town hall as a percentage of the cadastral value (valor catastral). For urban homes the rate is set locally within national bands, broadly between about 0.4% and 1.1% of the cadastral value, so the exact figure depends on the municipality.⁶

The second is Spanish non-resident income tax, IRNR. If you keep the property for your own use and do not rent it out, Spain still charges tax on a notional imputed income. The taxable base is 1.1% of the cadastral value where that value has been revised in the last ten years, or 2% otherwise, and as an EU resident you are taxed on it at 19%.⁷ You declare this once a year on Modelo 210. If instead you let the property, EU and EEA residents (including Dutch owners) are taxed at 19% on the net rental profit, with allowable expenses deductible, filed on Modelo 210; note that non-EU owners are taxed at 24% on gross rent with no deductions, so your Dutch nationality is an advantage here.⁷

Wealth tax rarely bites on the coast: Andalucia effectively neutralises the regional wealth tax, and the separate state solidarity tax on large fortunes only starts above substantial net wealth thresholds, so most buyers are unaffected. Take advice if you are buying at the top of the market.

Selling later: the 3% retention

When a non-resident sells Spanish property, the buyer is legally required to withhold 3% of the sale price and pay it directly to the Agencia Tributaria (on Modelo 211) as an advance against the seller’s capital gains tax.⁷ The seller then files Modelo 210 to declare the actual gain, taxed at 19% for EU and EEA residents, and either pays the balance or reclaims the difference if the 3% withheld was more than the tax due. Keeping every invoice from the purchase, the taxes you paid and any improvement works helps reduce the taxable gain.

The Spain-Netherlands tax treaty

Income and gains from Spanish property are taxable in Spain because that is where the property sits. The double taxation convention between Spain and the Netherlands, in force since the 1971 agreement, ensures the same income is not then taxed again in full in the Netherlands: the Netherlands gives relief for the Spanish tax on the property under the treaty.⁸ In the Dutch system a foreign holiday home is generally reported under Box 3, with treaty relief applied, so your effective outcome is that Spain has the primary taxing right on the property while the Netherlands avoids double taxation. Because personal tax positions vary, confirm the treatment with a Dutch adviser, and see the related guide on the double taxation treaty for property owners.

Living on the Costa del Sol

Connectivity is one of the coast’s strongest cards for Dutch owners. Malaga-Costa del Sol Airport (AGP), run by AENA, is one of Spain’s busiest airports and offers direct flights to Amsterdam Schiphol and other Dutch and European cities year-round, which makes weekend use and rental turnover practical.⁹ The coast has a wide choice of international and bilingual schools around Marbella, Estepona and Benalmadena for families relocating, and healthcare is well developed, with EU residents able to access the public system and a large private sector alongside it. Gross rental yields on the coast are commonly cited in the region of 4% to 6%, though this varies sharply by town, property type and whether you let short or long term, so treat any yield as an estimate to verify locally.

Getting the process right

The sensible order is: obtain your NIE, open a Spanish bank account, get a mortgage decision in principle before you commit, and instruct an independent lawyer to run the checks before you sign anything. For the wider financial and legal picture, read the companion guides on buying costs and taxes when buying a new-build property, non-resident income tax and Modelo 210, the 3% retention on sale, and the Spain-Netherlands double taxation treaty. Together they let a Dutch buyer plan the full cost of ownership on the Costa del Sol with confidence.