Spanish mortgages for non-residents — what you can borrow

CaixaBank publishes that its HolaBank non-resident mortgage finances up to 70% of the value of the property, as at August 2026, and says a buyer should expect to find the other 30% plus 12 to 15% for taxes and costs. The Banco de España puts the general ceiling at 80% of the valuation.

What a non-resident can borrow

CaixaBank markets a product specifically at non-resident buyers and publishes the figure on its own page: it finances up to 70% of the value of the property, and tells the reader to expect to cover the remaining 30% plus a further 12 to 15% for taxes and other costs. It states a maximum term of 20 years for euro deposits.

For comparison, the Banco de España's own consumer portal describes the general position rather than the non-resident one: «La cuantía del préstamo hipotecario está vinculada directamente con el valor de tasación de la vivienda: normalmente, hasta un máximo del 80% de este.» Banco Sabadell publishes the same general 80% for a primary residence and says the percentages tend to be lower for second homes, without naming a non-resident figure.

One honest limitation, stated rather than hidden. The Banco de España does not publish a non-resident loan-to-value at all, and neither Banco Santander nor Banco Sabadell publishes one on the non-resident products we could read on 26 August 2026. The 70% above is one named bank's published figure for one named product. It is not a market average and nobody publishes a market average.

The tasación, and why the deposit can move after the offer

Here is the concept English buyers most often miss.

The percentage is applied to the bank's own valuation (tasación), not to the price you agreed with the seller. The Banco de España sets out the rules: only firms authorised and supervised by the Banco de España and entered in its official register may produce one; the valuation expires six months after it is issued; and under the applicable law the client pays for it. Because you pay, you may choose the authorised valuer, and lenders must accept the report as long as it has not expired.

So if you agree 300,000 euros and the valuation comes back at 280,000 euros, a 70% loan is 196,000 euros rather than 210,000 euros, and your deposit has just grown by 14,000 euros. That is a real event, it happens after your offer is accepted, and it is the reason a mortgage offer is not the same thing as a budget.

What the bank will ask you for

The NIE comes first, and nothing proceeds without it. If your only connection to Spain is the purchase, nobody issues one to you automatically and you apply in person — that whole procedure, with the five-day rule, is on the NIE number.

After that, the bank will want proof of income, recent tax returns from your own country, an existing bank statement history, and a valuation from an authorised valuer. Non-resident files are assessed on documents rather than on a relationship, which is the practical reason they take longer.

The protection Spanish law gives you that English conveyancing does not

This is a genuinely good feature of the Spanish system, it is invisible in English-language coverage, and a page that lists only risks is not a credible page.

Ten calendar days with the paperwork. Ley 5/2019 art. 14.1 requires the lender to give you, «con una antelación mínima de diez días naturales respecto al momento de la firma del contrato», a standard European information sheet that binds the lender for at least ten days, a separate sheet of standardised warnings about the clauses that matter, a worked illustration of the payments under different interest-rate scenarios if the rate is variable, and a copy of the draft contract with every associated cost itemised.

A free meeting with a notary you choose. Art. 15 then requires you to appear before that notary during the same period. The notary checks that the documents were delivered on time and records, in an acta drawn up before the loan is signed, that they advised you individually on each specific clause in both sheets — «sin que sea suficiente una afirmación genérica» — and you answer a short test in front of them about what you were given and told.

Three consequences follow, and they are the point:

• You must appear no later than the day before the deed is signed (art. 15.3).
• If the documents were not delivered in time, or you do not appear, the notary records that and «no podrá autorizarse la escritura pública de préstamo» — the deed cannot be authorised at all (art. 15.5).
• The acta «no generará coste arancelario alguno» — it carries no fee (art. 15.8).

There is no English analogue. Nobody sits a British borrower down with an impartial public official a day before completion and makes them explain the clauses back.

What the mortgage adds to your costs

A mortgage adds a valuation fee, a second deed, and a second set of registry work. The allocation is not a matter of negotiation: Ley 5/2019 art. 14.1.e) sets it out.

«i. Los gastos de tasación del inmueble corresponderán a prestatario y los de gestoría al prestamista. ii. El prestamista asumirá el coste de los aranceles notariales de la escritura de préstamo hipotecario y los de las copias los asumirá quien las solicite. iii Los gastos de inscripción de las garantías en el registro de la propiedad corresponderán al prestamista.»

So: you pay the valuation and any copies of the deed you ask for. The lender pays the gestoría, the notary's fees on the mortgage deed, and the registry inscription of the mortgage. Stamp duty on the mortgage deed follows tax law, which under Real Decreto Legislativo 1/1993 makes the lender the taxable person.

None of that touches your purchase deed. The taxes and fees on the purchase itself sit exactly where they always did, and they are worked line by line on what buying a property in Spain costs.

What this page does not cover

Interest rates. Products. Which lender to approach. Whether you would be accepted. Currency risk on a euro loan repaid from sterling income. Life or building insurance sold alongside a loan.

We are not a credit intermediary, we introduce nobody, and we recommend no lender. Naming CaixaBank, Banco Sabadell and the Banco de España above is citation of published sources, not endorsement, and none of them knows this page exists.

There is no mortgage calculator here and there will not be one. A calculator is a JavaScript widget whose numbers nobody can quote, and a regulated credit decision is not something a website should imitate.

How the purchase runs around the mortgage is on buying property in Spain, who reads the paperwork is on who checks a Spanish property, and the Spanish terms are in the glossary.

We are not lawyers and this is not legal advice. Before you commit money, instruct an independent lawyer who acts only for you.