The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, has announced that tomorrow, Tuesday, the Council of Ministers will study a report presented by the Minister of Housing and Urban Agenda, Isabel Rodríguez, in which she proposes the procedure to eliminate the granting of the "Golden Visa" to foreigners who invest in housing, as stated by the head of the Executive himself at an event held in Dos Hermanas, Seville.
The "Golden Visa" is a modality of access to the residence visa for investors (for one year) or the Spanish residence authorization (for three years). The measure was approved by the Government of Mariano Rajoy in 2013. At the time it was presented as attractive to attract international investments and international talent.
To obtain this type of visa, the main requirement was to invest more than half a million euros in real estate, although it also accepts investment in financial assets (two million euros in Spanish public debt securities, one million in shares or social participations of Spanish companies, one million in investment funds, or one million in bank deposits in Spanish financial institutions). These modalities will not disappear, government sources explain.
But more than a decade later, the Government has detected that 94% of the visas for investors of this modality are linked only to investors in the real estate sector, which reach up to 10,000 authorizations.
According to data from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs provided to Transparency International, in the last ten years Spain has granted 2,700 residence visas to investors from China for acquiring real estate worth more than half a million euros. 1,100 citizens of Russia were granted the same permit. They are followed by Iranian investors, with 200 visas; the Americans, with 170; and from the United Kingdom, with 165. There are also investors of other nationalities.
According to the information provided by the Government, cities such as Barcelona, Madrid, Malaga, Alicante, Palma and Valencia are the ones that register the greatest demand for this type of visa and at the same time they are the ones that have the most areas with tension in housing prices. .
“The Government's priority in this legislature is to guarantee access to affordable housing, to respond to citizens, so that no citizen has to allocate more than 30% of their income to have a decent, adequate and quality home. And for this we are giving priority to the social function of housing.”
In recent months, various reports from the real estate sector have reported that in large cities such as those mentioned, the rise in housing prices coincides with a growing tendency to pay for them in cash, without resorting to credit, as well as by nationality. of buyers and their high standard of living. In the case of Barcelona, North Americans are the ones who most demand luxury homes.
In Madrid the presence of Venezuelans has skyrocketed as political tensions have become more complicated in their country of origin, to such an extent that people are even talking about “little Caracas” to talk about the most expensive area. in the Salamanca neighborhood next to El Retiro park.
A recent report from the real estate agency Engel
Not all experts link this functioning of the real estate market to the "Golden Visa" incentive, although for the vast majority it is.
