Spain decided to cut off the tap golden visaThe controversial visas were introduced a decade ago in an attempt to flood the brick industry with investment from outside the EU. The measure was announced today by President Pedro Sánchez. raises it As a step to “guarantee that housing is a right and not just a speculative business.” The big question left behind by the proposal that will pass the Cabinet tomorrow is: Will ending these “golden visas” improve access to housing and prevent millions of families from spending more than 40% of their lives? Do you have enough salary to cover the expenses of the flat?

For now, there are voices questioning whether the effects are being felt outside the housing market. At least it is one of the cities with the highest foreign investment.

Visas for investors. golden visa As the name suggests, they are nothing more and nothing less than “golden” residence visas designed to attract funds from non-EU citizens. These were launched in 2013 with Mariano Rajoy (PP) in Moncloa, in the midst of an economic recession, with the brick industry launching at low hours.

The aim was very simple: to make the possibility of investing in Spain even more attractive to wealthy investors from outside the EU. If they purchased and invested in Spanish companies, loans, funds or real estate above certain amounts (between two million and 500,000 euros), they received a space visa, which could later be extended with a residence permit.

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More than half a million euros. This is the minimum investment prescribed by the law governing the regulation. golden visa, 14/2013, 27 September, when it comes to the real estate sector. The rule explains that foreigners who want to come to Spain to make investments in the real estate market that must exceed 500,000 euros can apply for a visa.

If we are talking about the acquisition of public debt, the minimum is two million. In the case of shares, subsidiaries, investment funds or bank deposits, the starting amount is around 1 million euros.

“This is not a job”. The context today has little to do with what it was in 2013, and the Government, now headed by PSOE, has decided to bring this process to an end. golden visa Low slogan “Housing is a constitutional right, not a speculative business.” “We will take the necessary measures to ensure that this is a proper business and not just a speculative business,” Sánchez said this morning, before insisting that the effects of such visas designed for foreign investors were felt above all in the housing market. said. . urban.

“Today, 94 out of every 100 visas of this type are linked to real estate investment and are logically concentrated in important cities such as Barcelona, ​​​​Madrid, Malaga, Alicante, the Balearic Islands and the city of Valencia. areas and cities where it is almost impossible to find affordable housing for those who live, work and pay taxes.” reasoned.

But… How many are allowed? Data varies from one source to another but generally does not exceed thousands per year. In 2023, Transparency International Spain published a report mentioning that 6,200 visas were issued to investors in ten years, based on data from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Approximately 96.2% of these were donated for real estate acquisition; That means 5,963 or 600 each year. The data matches what was provided to him Economist It shows that between January and September 2023, the Administrator issued 589 visas for the purchase of real estate by the department of José Manuel Albares.

Country It says that between 2013 and 2022, the Administrator distributed approximately 11,500 golden visas, documents submitted for the purchase of shares, participations, deposits… Of these, approximately 94%, that is, approximately 10,800, directly correspond to the purchase of houses or residential properties. and other real estate transactions with balances between 1,000 and 1,100 each year. But figures can vary widely from one year to the next: Government records show, for example, that 880 grants were awarded in 2021, but the figure barely reached 451 the following year.

Will the measure be felt? When announcing the measure this morning, Pedro Sánchez insisted that the aim was to facilitate access to housing, but the real question is… golden visa? Will it have a noticeable impact on the real estate industry? There are experts who question this, such as Fotocasa’s research director María Matos. “This is a very small percentage that the withdrawal of Golden visas will not have an impact on the co-housing buying and selling market,” he tells RTVE.

“We need to remember that this is a restriction only for foreigners who buy property for over 500,000 euros. Therefore, we will be talking about the luxury market, not the housing market, where the average house price is around 180,000 euros or 200,000 euros. Therefore, it is a market that will not have an impact on reducing housing prices,” says Matos. Although there are cities where foreign investment is very high, such as the Canary Islands, the Balearic Islands or Alicante, in others the footprint is minimal. At the national level, he assures that foreign investment represents “only 15%”, but warns that this could penalize new housing construction.

What the data says. These are not the only data in the table. The College of Registrars for the Year 2022 leaves other equally interesting readings: an increase in buying and selling operations carried out by foreigners and, in particular, operations closed by foreigners for amounts exceeding 500,000 euros, which gives them golden visa. Although an increase was detected, the footprint is relatively small: 8,975 of the 88,000 operations formalized by foreigners exceeded the half-million euro limit, and 3,800 of these were carried out by visa-eligible non-EU investors.

Neither new nor unique. Although Sánchez announced today that the Government wants to end this crisis golden visa, the news is not entirely new. These visas have been on the Executive’s agenda for some time. Spain is not the only country considering the end of this. Portugal has done this before, and the EU itself has begun to examine such residence permits with particular attention.

Image | Jonny James (Unsplash)

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