COSTS · ANDALUCÍA · RATES CHECKED 2026-10-05
What buying here actually costs
The asking price is not the price. Between tax, two statutory fee scales and the people you have to pay to get a deed registered, a Marbella purchase carries something close to a tenth of the price on top. Every statutory rate below is linked to the BOE or the Junta de Andalucía. Nothing is quoted from memory, and the four figures we had to guess are marked as guesses.
Try
No reduced rate here. Andalucía charges 6% on a home that becomes the buyer's habitual residence. A non-resident buyer cannot claim that, so the general rate applies.
| Line | How it is worked out | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Asking price | What you agree with the seller | €1,000,000 |
| Transfer tax (ITP) | 7% of €1,000,000source | €70,000 |
| Notary | Statutory scale on €1,000,000 (€645), plus €150 of copies and folios, plus IVAAnexo I, núm. 2 | €962 |
| Land registry | Statutory scale on €1,000,000 (€367), plus IVAAnexo, núm. 2 | €444 |
| Conveyancing solicitorestimate | Assumed 1% of the price plus IVA. Not a fixed rate: agree it in writing | €12,100 |
| Gestoríaestimate | Assumed, plus IVA. Filing the tax and the deed. A solicitor may fold this into their fee | €424 |
| NIE and power of attorneyestimate | Assumed, plus IVA. A non-resident buyer needs a NIE, and usually a power of attorney to sign | €363 |
| Total cost of buying | Price plus every line above | €1,084,292 |
What the total does not show
You withhold €30,000 of the price, not pay it on top
Because the seller is not a Spanish tax resident, the law makes you retain 3% of the agreed price and pay it to Hacienda on form 211 against the seller's tax. The seller receives that much less. It is an obligation, not a cost, and if you fail to do it the property itself answers for the money.
art. 25.2The municipal plusvalía becomes your problem
Plusvalía municipal is the seller's tax. Where the seller is a non-resident individual you become the substitute taxpayer, so Marbella's town hall can pursue you for it. The amount turns on the land's rateable value and how long the seller owned it, so no calculator can put a figure on it from the price. Get it quantified and withheld at the notary.
art. 106.2A keen price does not cut the tax
ITP is charged on the Catastro's valor de referencia, or on the agreed price where that is higher. Negotiating below the reference value does not reduce the tax. The Constitutional Court upheld this in February 2026. IVA on a new build is charged on the price itself, so the floor does not apply there.
art. 10sourceWhy the resident switch does less than you would hope
Andalucía does have reduced transfer-tax rates, and being a Spanish tax resident buying a main home is how you reach them. The catch is the ceiling on each one. They are written for ordinary Andalucían housing, and this coast is not that: the most generous ceiling is €250,000 of declared value, which buys very little between Estepona and Marbella. Above the ceiling the reduction is not tapered, it is simply gone, and the whole price pays the general rate.
| Rate | Who reaches it | Up to |
|---|---|---|
| 6% | Habitual residence | €150,000 |
| 3.5% | Under 35, victim of domestic violence or terrorism, or a depopulated municipality | €150,000 |
| 3.5% | Large family, or disability of 33% or more | €250,000 |
| 7% | Everyone else, including every non-resident buyer and every second home | No ceiling |
So residency changes two real things here, and they are not the tax: how much a bank will lend you, and whether you need a NIE and a power of attorney to sign. The transfer tax is almost always 7% either way.
What this cannot tell you
The tax lines are law and we have sourced them. The rest varies, and three gaps matter enough to state plainly.
- The solicitor is a market priceone percent is the convention, not a rate; agree it in writing before you instruct
- Plusvalía cannot be priced from the asking priceit turns on the land's rateable value and how long the seller held it
- Andalucía onlythe reduced rates and the AJD rate are regional, and these are Andalucía's
This is a calculator, not advice, and it does not know your purchase. The one number worth chasing before you sign is the Catastro's valor de referencia: it sets the transfer-tax base whatever you negotiate, so a keen price can still carry a tax bill you were not expecting.
Sources
- Junta de Andalucía: Impuesto sobre Transmisiones Patrimoniales, modalidad Transmisiones Patrimoniales Onerosaswhole text
- Junta de Andalucía: tipo reducido para promover una política social de viviendawhole text
- Junta de Andalucía: Impuesto sobre Transmisiones Patrimoniales, modalidad Actos Jurídicos Documentadoswhole text
- Real Decreto Legislativo 1/1993, texto refundido de la Ley del ITP y AJDart. 31.2
- Real Decreto Legislativo 1/1993, texto refundido de la Ley del ITP y AJD, as amended by Ley 11/2021art. 10
- Tribunal Constitucional, Sentencia 13/2026 de 12 de febrero, upholding the valor de referencia as taxable basewhole text
- Ley 37/1992 del Impuesto sobre el Valor Añadidoarts. 90 and 91.Uno.1.7
- Real Decreto Legislativo 5/2004, texto refundido de la Ley del Impuesto sobre la Renta de no Residentesart. 25.2
- Real Decreto Legislativo 2/2004, texto refundido de la Ley Reguladora de las Haciendas Localesart. 106.2
- Ley 5/2019 reguladora de los contratos de crédito inmobiliarioart. 14.1.e
- Real Decreto 1426/1989, Arancel de los NotariosAnexo I, núm. 2
- Real Decreto 1427/1989, Arancel de los Registradores de la PropiedadAnexo, núm. 2
Rates checked 2026-10-05. See also what prices actually did since 2005, and the agency index for who is active where.