Taxes: the invisible toll that brakes housing construction
A tangle of municipal taxes and fees artificially increases the cost of new construction. Spain, unlike Europe, exceptionally taxes each phase of construction.
Spain's housing market is heavily influenced by a complex web of municipal taxes and fees that artificially inflate the cost of new construction. According to Juan Carpizo, a tax expert at Andersen, these fiscal burdens are a significant structural surcharge for the final buyer, making it harder for people to access housing. The tax journey starts when a developer acquires a plot of land, incurring the Impuesto sobre Bienes Inmuebles (IBI) and Impuesto sobre Construcciones, Instalaciones y Obras (ICIO), which can be up to 4% of the construction cost.
Additionally, various fees and taxes, including the contentious Impuesto sobre el Incremento de Valor de los Terrenos de Naturaleza Urbana (IIVTNU), or plusvalía municipal, further increase the cost, which is then passed on to the buyer.
Written by urgent.news from Expansion ES's report — not a translation of it. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
