Financing a Spanish home from abroad is routine — the banks on this coast have been doing it for forty years and several run English-speaking non-resident desks. But the terms differ from a domestic mortgage in ways worth knowing before you set your budget.
Loan to value
Expect 60 to 70 per cent as a non-resident, against 80 per cent for a Spanish tax resident. So on a €1M purchase, plan on finding €300.000 to €400.000 of equity plus the 10 to 15 per cent of costs on top.
The valuation trap
The bank lends against the lower of the purchase price and its own tasación — an independent valuation it commissions. If the valuation comes in under the price, your loan shrinks and the gap comes out of your pocket. On a competitive property in a rising area this is the single most common financing surprise.
Rates and terms
Fixed rates dominate here; Spanish buyers moved away from variable after Euribor climbed to just over 4 per cent in late 2023, and the fixed products stayed popular even as it came back down through 2024 and 2025. Terms typically run to age 75, so a 55-year-old is looking at twenty years rather than thirty.
Banks also want your total debt payments — Spanish and at home — under roughly 35 per cent of your net income. Mortgages you hold in another country count.
What it costs to arrange
Budget 2 to 3 per cent of the loan for the valuation, the bank's arrangement fee and the associated paperwork. Note that since Law 5/2019 the lender pays the stamp duty on the mortgage deed, not you — an improvement worth several thousand euros that older guides still get wrong.
One piece of timing advice
Get a decision in principle before you view. On this coast a good property at a fair price is gone in days, and a buyer who can name their financing is a buyer a seller takes seriously.
Correct as of 23 April 2026. Lending criteria and rates move constantly; treat these as the shape of the market, not a quotation.