As a rule, the total costs of buying property in Barcelona amount to 11%-15% more than the purchase price.
So if the cost of buying an apartment in Barcelona is €423,000 (the average property price in Barcelona in 2022) you’ll need between €470,000 to €497,000.
If you’re looking to buy property in Barcelona with a size over 100m², in 2022 these go for an average price of €741,000 meaning you’ll need €823,000-€852,000.
As you can see already, the long answer to the question of costs is: ‘it depends’.
Below we’ll help get you a better idea of the costs of buying property in Barcelona.
Costs of buying property in Barcelona
Taxes when buying a house in Barcelona
The most significant costs of buying property in Barcelona – aside from the purchase price – are the taxes.
These taxes depend on whether you want to buy a property in Barcelona that’s new or secondhand:
- Buying a new build house in Barcelona – 11.5%. You’ll need to pay VAT & Stamp Duty when buying a newly built property in Barcelona (IVA & Actos Jurídicos Documentados, AJD). Across all of Spain you’ll need to pay 10% VAT on the purchase price of residential properties – and in Barcelona Stamp Duty will cost you 1.5% on top of the purchase price. Both of these are paid by the buyer. If you pay a reservation deposit to take a house in Barcelona off the market before completion of the sale, you’ll also pay VAT on this deposit.
- Buying a secondhand house in Barcelona – 10%. You’ll need to pay property transfer tax when buying a secondhand property in Barcelona (Impuesto sobre Transmisiones Patrimoniales, ITP). This is reduced to 5% if you’re 32 years old or younger and meet other requirements. If you pay a reservation deposit you do not need to pay any VAT, but will need to pay the full ITP upon completion of the sale. Outside of Catalonia, the ITP on Spanish property is usually 7%.
Other costs when buying a house in Barcelona
The remainder is made up of both essential and non-essential (but recommended) costs.
Essential costs when buying a house in Barcelona are:
- Public notary – 0.15%. Notaries in Spain carry out the administrative task of verifying documents and completing the contract of sale (contrato de compraventa). You’ll be visiting the notary’s office at the end of the house purchase process, and is when you’ll pay for the house (or have your bank issue a cheque) and receive the keys to your new front door. Notary fees are set by the government, but have a variable element that reflects the price of a property and various clauses. You can approximate these as 0.1% of the purchase price for properties over €400,000 and around 0.4% for properties under €100,000. Extra notary costs may add up to another 0.05% of the purchase price. In our 12-step guide on how to buy a property in Barcelona, we have this cost averaged at €350-€2,000.
- Spanish land registry – 0.1%. After the notary finalises your contract of sale (contrato de compraventa) you can take this to the nearest land registry office (Registro de la Propiedad) to inscribe yourself as the new owner of the property (and mortgage, if applicable). The total cost depends on the price of the property, but can cost 0.1% for expensive properties and 0.3% for less expensive properties. In our 12-step guide on how to buy a house in Barcelona, we have this cost averaged at €500.
Non-essential (but recommended) costs when buying a house in Barcelona are:
Lawyer – 1%. The help of a lawyer may be high, but can invariably save you more money in the long run. A lawyer can review outstanding debts and charges on a property, while drafting contracts (e.g. a reservation contract) and fulfilling administrative tasks (e.g. inscribing the sale into the property register) on your behalf. A lawyer’s costs can be 1% of the purchase price in Barcelona. These tasks can also be done by a gestor, or a specialist real estate agency in Barcelona like Lasose Properties & Investments.
The cost of taking out a mortgage in Barcelona
If you’re taking a mortgage on your property in Barcelona, you will need to pay for the bank’s property valuation.
This can cost around €500 and is paid by the buyer.
There is also usually an opening fee to pay of around 1% of the value of the mortgage – this depends on the mortgage provider. Until 2018, buyers also had to pay for inscribing the mortgage’s details in the property register. Now this is the mortgage bank’s obligation to pay for the stamp duty on a new mortgage.
A mortgage will likely increase additional notary costs, again by 0.1% for large mortgages and up to 0.4% for smaller mortgages (under €100,000).
Bear in mind that borrowers can obtain up to 80% of a property’s purchase price in Barcelona. This falls to 70% for non-residents. Therefore when planning to buy a property in Barcelona as a resident you’ll need 31-35% of the purchase price – as a non-resident this can rise to 41%-45%.
You can read more about mortgages for non-residents in Spain here.
Average property prices in Barcelona
Spanish property portal Fotocasa carries detailed information on property prices in Barcelona, which is regularly updated.
Based on over 16,000 houses on the market in Barcelona in 2022, the average selling price was €423,000. This was a price of €4,281 per m².
According to the Idealista property portal, housing prices in Barcelona at the end of May 2022 were €4,015 per m².
You can read more about housing prices in Barcelona in 2022 in our detailed report. We cover property market trends before, during and after the COVID-19 pandemic as well as a breakdown of property prices in Barcelona by district.
Is housing in Barcelona expensive?
The cost of property in Barcelona is more expensive than anywhere else in Spain.
In the Deloitte Property Index for 2021, Barcelona emerged as having the 9th most expensive rental prices among major European cities. Barcelona was more expensive than Frankfurt, Hamburg, Brussels, Rotterdam and Tel Aviv – but not as expensive as London, Paris, Oslo, Copenhagen, Amsterdam or Munich.
According to Fotocasa, average rental prices in Barcelona are €1,394 per month.
According to Idealista, housing prices in Barcelona at the end of May 2022 (€4,025) were higher than in Madrid (€3,833).
While the costs of buying property in Barcelona might be higher than anywhere else in Spain, there are benefits for anyone wishing to invest in Barcelona property. The same Deloitte report found that yields on rental investments ranged between 2-6.5% in 2021. This is significantly higher than the national average of 3.7% across Spain.
Costs of buying property in Barcelona in 2022
The general rule still stands – you’ll need 11%-15% more than a purchase price to buy property in Barcelona
You’re likely to pay closer to 15% on top if your house is more expensive (i.e. over €400,000) than if your house is less expensive (i.e. under €100,000). If you choose to use the services of a lawyer or specialised real estate agency like Lasose Properties & Investments you will pay higher costs – but also enjoy a smoother buying process with heightened confidence.
You can find a full overview of the buying process in our 12-step guide on how to buy a house in Barcelona.
Lasose Properties & Investments is a leading real estate agency offering exclusive listings of properties for sale in Barcelona. We are experts in individual and corporate Barcelona relocations and offer tailored advice if you’re looking to invest in Barcelona property.
