Buying a home on the Costa del Sol from the United States.
I am Michael, a British buyer’s agent based in Málaga. I find, assess and negotiate homes between Nerja and Estepona, for buyers who live in the United States.
You can buy here. What buying does not do is let you stay.
The first question has a short answer. Yes. There is no nationality restriction on buying a home in Spain and no requirement to live here. Spanish law treats non-resident ownership as ordinary and taxes it directly, which is what Article 13.1.h of the Non-Resident Income Tax Law does. You need a Spanish NIE number to complete, and a Spanish bank account in practice.
The second half matters just as much. Buying gives you no right to stay. Since the investor residence visa was repealed, property and immigration status are separate questions in Spain, and a €500,000 purchase buys a home and nothing else.
I am British, I live in Málaga, and I was a foreign buyer on this coast myself. My area runs from Nerja in the east to Estepona in the west. The work is the same at every price point. Proper research on the property and its area, a straight assessment of what it is genuinely worth, and careful negotiation on your behalf.
This page exists because four assumptions behind the rest of this site fail for you. You are capped at 90 days in any 180. Spain charges you a higher rate than it charges a European owner, on a bigger number. You keep filing with the IRS whatever you do. And you earn in dollars while every line of the purchase is priced in euros.
What an American buyer runs into here, and what they do not.
You can buy, with nothing attached
No nationality bar, no residence test, no permission to apply for. Article 13.1.h of the IRNR Law taxes non-resident owners of urban property directly, which takes for granted that you may own it.
90 days in any 180, and they are shared
The United States sits in Annex II of Regulation (EU) 2018/1806, visa-free for no more than 90 days in any 180. That allowance covers the whole Schengen area, not Spain alone.
The golden visa is gone
Article 63 of Ley 14/2013, the investor residence visa, now reads "(Sin contenido)", left without content from April 3, 2025. A lot of American-facing content online has not caught up.
Spain taxes you at 24% of gross rent
Article 25.1.a drops the general 24% rate to 19% only for EU and EEA residents, and Article 24.6 gives those same residents the right to deduct costs. You get neither.
The IRS comes with you
A citizen abroad is "subject to tax on worldwide income from all sources", and filing rules are "generally the same whether you are in the United States or abroad". Citizenship is the trigger.
No US route on Málaga’s map
Aena says Málaga-Costa del Sol "has a total of 159 destinations operated by 60 companies", and not one of them is in the United States. Plan on one stop.
Ninety days in any 180, and buying does not add to them.
The United States is listed in Annex II of Regulation (EU) 2018/1806, the countries whose nationals are exempt from a visa "for stays of no more than 90 days in any 180-day period". Three things get misread. The ninety days are shared across the whole Schengen area, so a week in Lisbon comes out of the same allowance. The window rolls backward from every day you are present rather than resetting on a fixed date. And leaving and coming back resets nothing.
Enforcement has changed. The EU Entry/Exit System began a progressive rollout on October 12, 2025 and, in the European Commission’s own words, "became fully operational" on April 10, 2026, replacing passport stamps with a biometric record of every entry and exit that allows automatic detection of overstayers. ETIAS, the €20 travel authorization, is separate and later. The Commission says it "is currently not in operation", with the start date to be announced ahead of time.
Owning a home adds no days and no status. Article 63 of Ley 14/2013 now reads "(Sin contenido)" in the consolidated text, left without content with effect from April 3, 2025 by disposición final 21.1 of Ley Orgánica 1/2025. To live here rather than visit, the two routes that matter to most buyers are the non-lucrative residence visa and the international teleworker authorization, both applied for at a Spanish consulate in the United States before you travel. The stay guide works through the count and both routes.
Spain charges you more than it charges a European, and the IRS never lets go.
This is the number that does not appear in guides written for British or EU buyers, because it does not apply to them. Article 25.1.a of the Non-Resident Income Tax Law sets the general rate at 24% and reduces it to 19% only for residents of another EU or EEA state with effective exchange of tax information. Article 24.1 taxes the gross amount, and the right to deduct expenses in Article 24.6 belongs to EU and EEA residents alone.
Put numbers on it. Take €30,000 of rent with €12,000 of costs behind it: mortgage interest, IBI, community fees, insurance and repairs. IBI is the annual local property tax, and the community fees are the Spanish equivalent of HOA dues. A Dutch owner pays 19% of €18,000, which is €3,420. An American pays 24% of €30,000, which is €7,200. Same home, same economics, more than double the bill. Keep the place for yourself and Spain still charges an annual imputed income on it, at that same 24%.
On the US side nothing stops. The house itself is not reportable, and the IRS says so plainly: "foreign real estate is not a specified foreign financial asset required to be reported on Form 8938". The Spanish account you open to run the property usually is, because the FBAR asks whether your foreign accounts exceeded $10,000 "at any time during the calendar year". Completion funds passing through clear that on their own. Taxes for American owners sets out both sides with the filing dates.
You earn in dollars. Every line of this purchase is priced in euros.
On the European Central Bank’s euro reference rate for September 18, 2026, one euro bought $1.1460. The ECB sets those rates each working day at around 16:00 CET, and they are the cleanest benchmark to hold a bank or a currency service against. At that rate a €350,000 home is about $401,100, and resale buying costs of 10 to 11% add roughly $40,000 to $44,000 on top.
The exposure that is yours alone sits between signing and completing. A Spanish arras contract usually runs one to three months in front of the deed, and the price stays fixed in euros the whole way. On a €600,000 purchase a five-cent move in EUR/USD changes your dollar cost by $30,000. At 1.1460 that home costs $687,600, and at 1.1960 it costs $717,600. When you convert is a decision, and a better one made before the arras than after.
Americans do borrow here, and they borrow large. The Colegio de Registradores recorded 619 mortgages registered by US nationals in 2025, at an average loan of €353,868. That is the second-highest average among the nineteen nationalities the registrars break out, behind Germany at €369,436. In the second quarter of 2026 the average rate on new Spanish mortgages was 3.03%, and 63.83% of new loans were fixed.
Aena lists 159 destinations from Málaga, and none of them is in the United States.
Aena’s own destinations page states that Málaga-Costa del Sol "has a total of 159 destinations operated by 60 companies", and that published list carries no US airport, no United States country entry and no US carrier. The equivalent page for Madrid-Barajas does list New York/Newark, JFK, Miami and United Airlines, so the absence at Málaga is real rather than a quirk of the page. Plan on one stop: transatlantic into Madrid, then a short connection down to Málaga.
Put that next to 90 days in any 180 and your time on the ground is limited and legally capped. That is the practical argument for doing the filtering before you fly. Two or three trips, each of them useful, rather than ten. Aena’s 159 destinations are what make the second leg the easy part once you are across.
There is a US Consular Agency on the coast itself, in Fuengirola, at Avenida Juan Gómez "Juanito" 8, Edificio Lucía 1º-C, open 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. by appointment only. Its district is "Málaga, Granada, Almería, eastern part of Cadiz, Ceuta, and Melilla", which covers the coast from Nerja to Estepona, and it offers passport, Consular Report of Birth Abroad and notarial services to US citizens.
What the work looks like from the other side of the Atlantic.
The order is fixed. A first call about budget, towns and timing. Then I search, visit and photograph what the listing leaves out, and take out the homes that do not stand up. You get a short list with the reasons attached. Then the trip, where three to five days cover it. Then the offer, the arras contract, the notary and the Land Registry. Listings here are not pooled in one system the way they are at home, so the same home appears on several agencies’ books at different prices, and the agent showing it works for the seller.
Price orientation comes first. Average asking price per square meter in 2026 runs from €3,123 in Torrox and €3,684 in Mijas up to €5,413 in Benahavís and €5,956 in Marbella, with Málaga city at €3,937, Estepona at €4,307 and Fuengirola at €4,451. At the ECB rate above, that is about $3,579 a square meter at the eastern end and about $6,826 in Marbella. The spread is close to a factor of two.
Budget from the all-in figure. A resale in Andalucía carries 7% transfer tax, and with lawyer, notary and registry the sensible number is 10 to 11% on top. New construction is 10% IVA plus 1.2% stamp duty, 12 to 14% all in. From agreed offer to keys is roughly six to twelve weeks on a cash purchase, and eight to sixteen with a Spanish mortgage. The notary checks the deed, not your purchase, so the permit history on an extension, the accounts of the homeowners association and what may be built next door are work somebody does on your side. Buying from the United States covers the distance part.
Three guides written for American buyers, then the general ones.
Taxes for American owners of a Spanish home
The 24% gross rate, the imputed income charge, the Modelo 210 dates, and the Form 1040 side with the credit, the FBAR and the depreciation rule.
How long Americans can stay in Spain
How 90/180 is counted, what the Entry/Exit System changed, and the two residence routes that outlived the investor visa.
Buying a Costa del Sol home from the United States
Viewing trips against a capped stay, NIE and power of attorney, sending dollars, and what follows completion.
What American buyers ask first.
Can an American citizen buy property in Spain?
Do I need a visa to come and buy?
How long can I stay in Spain without a visa?
Does buying a house in Spain get me residency or a golden visa?
How is rental income taxed if I am American?
What do I pay in Spain if I keep the house for myself?
Do I still have to file US taxes if I buy here, or move here?
Will my Spanish bank account trigger an FBAR filing?
Are there nonstop flights from the United States to Málaga?
Can I get a mortgage in Spain as a US citizen?
What do I pay on top of the price?
How long does it take from offer to keys?
Michael works in English and Spanish. Your side of the purchase runs in English. With Spanish sellers, agents, lawyers and the notary, the conversation happens directly in Spanish, with nobody interpreting in between. The guides linked from this page are written in English.
New builds by town: Mijas and La CalaFuengirolaEsteponaMarbella, Benahavís and IstánCasares and ManilvaBenalmádena and TorremolinosMálaga and the east coast
Tell me what you are looking for, and I will tell you what it reaches here.
A thirty-minute call about budget, towns and timing, at a time that works from the US, with a straight answer on whether this coast fits the plan. The call is in English.
Thanks for reaching out.
I will be in touch shortly — usually the same day.