When it comes to Spain’s housing crisis, there’s one rare point of agreement across the political extremes: foreigners make a convenient target.
This week, Vox added its voice to calls for tougher measures against foreign property buyers. The far-right party has proposed introducing a special tax on non-resident purchasers, claiming the revenue would be used to fund tax relief and subsidised housing for Spanish citizens. According to Vox, the goal is to halt what they describe as a “massive takeover” of housing by foreign capital, which they argue is pushing Spaniards — particularly younger generations — out of the market.
Vox points to figures showing that home ownership among young Spaniards has dropped from 56% to 27% over the past twenty years, while the share of homes bought by foreigners has climbed from 7.6% in 2007 to 19.3% in 2025. They describe this as an “expulsion effect” and say the policy is meant to shield Spaniards from speculation and large-scale purchases by foreign individuals and investment funds. In doing so, they echo Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, who has repeatedly labelled foreign buyers as “speculators.”
Same message, different ideology
What stands out is how closely this language mirrors that of the hard left. Left-wing parties have long blamed “speculators,” “funds,” and foreign buyers for rising prices and shrinking rental supply — sometimes even demanding outright bans on foreign ownership. Vox favours higher taxes instead. Different political branding, same basic narrative.
The real causes are domestic
Foreign buyers are highly visible in specific segments — especially coastal and second-home markets — but they are not what’s making housing unaffordable in cities like Madrid, Barcelona, or Seville. The real drivers are structural: a long-term shortage of housing, restrictive planning laws, high taxes and transaction costs, and decades of ineffective housing policy. Rather than tackling supply, reforming planning, or incentivising construction and renovation, politicians across the spectrum prefer a simpler story — one with foreigners as the villains.
Blaming outsiders may score political points, but it won’t add a single home to Spain’s housing stock.
