According to a proposal recently announced by the Spanish trade secretary, Jaime García-Legaz, the country is considering automatically granting residence permits to foreigners who buy a home in Spain priced at more than 160,000 euros, as part of its efforts to reduce the vast stock of unsold housing built up during a property boom and revive the real estate market.
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This measure, explained Jaime García-Legaz, it was aimed in particular at the Chinese and Russian markets, where there is growing demand for housing in Spain and who might face difficulties in buying a house in Spain, because they are not residents in any other country of the European Union.
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The Spanish trade secretary explained that although this new measure for Spain, it was following the footsteps of other European countries like Ireland and Portugal, who have already taken similar measures to make their housing markets more attractive by easing residency requirements.
Although, it is not yet clear how Spain would implement the proposal, the law regarding the residence permits will be put in place in a few weeks’ time and possibly it would involve creating a special temporary residence permit for home buyers like Portugal did recently.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, José Manuel García-Margallo, confirmed in Congress last month that the government is already speeding up processing residence permits for foreigners purchasing real estate assets in Spain.
When enquired about this matter, the Prime Minister of Spain, Mr. Mariano Rajoy, said it was important to reduce the stock of unsold properties in the country and confirmed that the government was studying the measure, but added that no decision had been taken so far.
For more information you can visit the website of the Ministry of Interior of Spain.
