Spain is planning to impose a tax of up to 100% on the value of properties bought by non-residents from countries outside the EU, such as the UK.

Announcing the move, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said the “unprecedented” measure was necessary to meet the country’s housing emergency.

“The West faces a decisive challenge: To not become a society divided into two classes, the rich landlords and poor tenants,” he said.

Non-EU residents bought 27,000 properties in Spain in 2023, he told an economic forum in Madrid, “not to live in” but “to make money from them”.

“Which, in the context of shortage that we are in, [we] obviously cannot allow,” he added.

The move was designed to prioritise available homes for residents, the Spanish prime minister said.

Sánchez did not provide any more details on how the tax would work nor a timeline for presenting it to parliament for approval, where he has often struggled to gather sufficient votes to pass legislation.

His office described the proposed measure as a way to limit the purchase of homes by “non-resident non-EU foreigners”. In Spain, people are classed as non-residents if they live in the country for less than 183 days in a single year.

It added: “The tax burden that they will have to pay in case of purchase will be increased up to 100% of the value of the property, in line with countries such as Denmark and Canada.”