The listing price is the price of the house. It is not the price of buying it. In Spain the gap between the two is set by tax law, and in Catalonia that gap got wider in mid-2025. Here is the version without the estate-agent shorthand.
Almost everything about your tax bill is decided by one question — is this a resale, or the first sale of a new build bought straight from the developer? Resale means ITP (Impuesto de Transmisiones Patrimoniales, the transfer tax). New build means IVA (VAT) plus AJD (stamp duty on the deed). You never pay both. They are alternatives, and they are calculated in completely different ways.
There is a second, subtler point. When a developer quotes €1.2 million, that figure almost always excludes IVA. When a private owner quotes €1.2 million, ITP is added on top. Either way, the number on the portal is not the number that leaves your account.
For years the Catalan shorthand was one line: 10% ITP on a resale. Since 27 June 2025 that has changed. The rate now steps up with the price, band by band:
Read that slowly if you are shopping in the luxury bracket, because that is exactly where it bites. On an €850,000 villa, read band by band, the tax lands around €87,500 — where a flat 10% would have been €85,000. On a €1.8 million house the same arithmetic gives roughly €204,000. This is regional law, so rates elsewhere in Spain differ; comparing Catalonia with Madrid or the Valencian Community is not apples to apples.
Buy a new build straight from the developer and ITP disappears. In its place you pay IVA at 10% on residential property, plus AJD, the stamp duty on the deed, which sits at around 1.5% in Catalonia. A €1.2 million new build is therefore €120,000 of IVA plus €18,000 of AJD — about €138,000 before you have spoken to a notary.
People assume new is cheaper on tax. Usually it is not. What new-build buyers do get, as a rule, is a clean paper trail, a long structural guarantee under Spanish building law, and no renovation surprises — a different kind of value, but a real one.
Tax is the big number, but it is not the only one added to the bill:
Then comes year one of ownership, which is its own budget: IBI (the annual property tax), community fees if the property has them, insurance, and — if you are non-resident — the annual non-resident income tax return. We deal with that side in our guide to owning property in Spain as a non-resident.
Price €850,000. Catalan ITP, band by band, roughly €87,500. Notary and registry, say €2,500. Legal work and due diligence, around 1% plus VAT, so about €10,000. You are near €950,000 all-in before a single piece of furniture — about 12% on top of the asking price. Across the market the percentage stays in roughly the same region, and at the very top, where the 13% band applies, it drifts a little higher.
Agents sometimes still quote the old flat 10% plus a bit for fees. In Catalonia today that is optimistic, especially above €900,000. Our rule of thumb for buyers is simple: set aside 12–15% of the purchase price for taxes and transaction costs. Then you are not the person renegotiating the completion date because the cash fell short — a conversation that happens far more often than it should.
Sort your tax number early. If you are buying from outside Spain you will need an NIE before you can sign a public deed, and the purchase is only truly yours once the tax is settled and the deed is registered. Line up your lawyer, your NIE and your funds before you fall for a house, not after — because on a good Maresme property, the seller will not sit around waiting for your paperwork.