Spanish Mortgage Fees and Buying Costs Explained
Short answer: beyond your deposit, budget an extra 10-13% of the purchase price for transfer tax or VAT, notary and registry fees on the purchase deed, legal or gestoria representation, and a mortgage valuation fee. This is separate from mortgage-deed formalisation costs, which the lender generally covers under current law — see our companion guide for that distinction. For an exact figure on your own purchase, use the guided calculator below.
What buying a property in Spain actually costs, beyond the mortgage
Most buyers know roughly what their deposit needs to cover. Fewer know exactly what the extra cash on top of that is for. This page breaks it down item by item — the purchase taxes, the notary and registry fees, the legal and administration costs, and the mortgage-side valuation fee — using the same figures our own calculator uses, so you can see where the total actually comes from.
Purchase taxes: transfer tax, VAT and stamp duty
What tax applies depends first on whether the property is a resale or a new build.
Resale property is generally subject to Transfer Tax (Impuesto de Transmisiones Patrimoniales, or ITP), set regionally rather than nationally. Indicative rates include:
| Region | Typical resale ITP rate |
|---|---|
| Basque Country, Navarre | 4-6% |
| Madrid, Melilla, Ceuta, La Rioja | 6-7% |
| Andalusia, Canary Islands | 6.5-7% |
| Most other regions | 8-9% |
| Catalonia, Valencian Community, Cantabria | 10% |
New-build property is generally subject to VAT instead, typically 10% of the price (7% IGIC in the Canary Islands), plus a smaller regional stamp duty (Actos Jurídicos Documentados, or AJD) that usually runs somewhere between 0.5% and 1.5%.
Tax rates and bands change periodically and can carry exemptions or reductions in specific cases. Treat the figures above as planning guidance, not a tax quotation — always confirm the current rate for your specific region and situation.
Notary, land registry, legal and administration fees
These sit on top of the tax, and relate to the property purchase deed itself, not the mortgage deed. Based on typical figures used in our own cost calculations:
- Notary (purchase deed): generally somewhere in the range of €650-2,200, scaled to the price but capped at the upper end — so it shrinks as a percentage the more expensive the property.
- Land registry: typically €350-1,500, following a similar scaled-and-capped pattern.
- Gestoria / administration: often a broadly flat fee, commonly in the region of €300, covering the paperwork and filings around completion.
- Legal / adviser representation: commonly calculated as around 1% of the price, usually with a practical minimum somewhere around €1,200 for smaller transactions.
Together, these purchase-side fees typically add up to somewhere around 2-3% of the price on a mid-range property, proportionally less on a higher-value one because of the caps involved.
The one mortgage-side fee that still sits with the buyer
Since the 2019 mortgage law reform, the lender generally covers the notary, registry, tax and gestoria costs tied specifically to the mortgage deed — a genuinely different document from the property purchase deed discussed above. See our buying costs guide for the full explanation of that split.
What typically remains on the buyer's side is the property valuation, commonly around €500, required by the lender to confirm the property supports the loan amount. Some lenders may also apply a bank opening or arrangement fee, though many current non-resident mortgage products waive this — it's worth confirming case by case.
A full worked example
Take a €250,000 resale property in Malaga (Andalusia), financed with a mortgage covering 70% of the price (€175,000), leaving a €75,000 deposit. Here's how the extra costs typically break down:
| Item | Indicative amount |
|---|---|
| Transfer tax (ITP, 7% in Andalusia) | €17,500 |
| Notary (purchase deed) | ≈ €1,100 |
| Land registry | ≈ €575 |
| Gestoria / administration | ≈ €300 |
| Legal / adviser representation | ≈ €2,500 |
| Mortgage valuation | ≈ €500 |
| Total extra costs | ≈ €22,475 (about 9% of the price) |
Added to the €75,000 deposit, that puts total cash needed at roughly €97,500 — a very different figure from the deposit alone, and exactly the kind of gap that catches buyers out if it isn't budgeted for from the start.
Getting your own number instead of a general percentage
Every figure above changes with the region, the property type and the price, so a generic "budget 10%" rule is only ever a starting point. The fastest way to see your own real figure is to run it through our guided calculator, which applies this same logic to your specific property and gives you a full itemized breakdown alongside your indicative mortgage figures.
You can also talk it through directly with Alberto Bertazzi or Mike Brady — the same people who would handle your file from review through to completion.
Quick answers
Typically an extra 10-13% of the price on top of the deposit: transfer tax or VAT plus stamp duty, notary and registry fees for the purchase deed, legal/gestoria representation, and a mortgage valuation fee.
It varies by region, typically somewhere between 4% and 10% of the price. Madrid and the Basque Country tend to be lower; Catalonia, Valencia and Cantabria tend to be at the 10% end. Always confirm the current regional rate.
Generally VAT at 10% of the price (7% IGIC in the Canary Islands), plus a smaller regional stamp duty (AJD), typically 0.5-1.5%.
Yes. The bank's cost coverage since 2019 applies to the mortgage deed specifically. The purchase deed's own notary and registry fees, plus purchase taxes and legal representation, still sit with the buyer.
Yes — our guided calculator generates a full itemized breakdown based on your property's price, region and type, alongside your indicative mortgage figures.
General guide only. Tax rates, fee ranges and lending practices vary by region, lender, property and personal circumstances, and change periodically — always confirm current figures directly before relying on them.