The Spanish government intends to initiate a procedure to cancel the issuance of gold visa” or “investor visa” which allows you to get Investor Visa when buying real estate in Spain for more than 500.000€. According to President Pedro Sanchez, this will reduce housing prices and make it more affordable for the local population. The logic of the Spanish government is as follows: investors are actively buying housing, in order to obtain residency, for this reason, the prices of real estate and rents are rising.
Recall that the law has been in effect since 2013 and was approved by the People’s Party a decade ago, just as the post-bubble burst crisis was unfolding and a gradual market recovery was beginning.
According to data obtained by the Executive, about 94% of visas for investors are related to real estate investments in cities such as Barcelona, Madrid, Malaga, Alicante, Palma and Valencia. Which makes them areas of “high demand” in the real estate market. 45% of “golden visas” were issued to Chinese nationals and 19.6% to Russian nationals. They are followed by Iran, the US and the UK.
Golden visas have also been questioned by the European Union because they are seen as being issued without verification of the origin of the invested capital. The European Commission has for years warned that mechanisms for granting residence permits in exchange for investment carry potential security risks for the community’s countries.
However, it should be noted that in addition to the “security threat” investors have contributed to the development of these cities and regions by paying taxes, as well as improving the housing stock through repairs of purchased housing. Many strongly doubt that such a government decision will really lead to a decrease in real estate prices, because in addition to the “golden visa” investors still have plenty of options for obtaining a visa or residency, and the purchase of real estate for many was and remains primarily a way to earn money, rather than obtaining a visa.
If you would like to know the options for residency beyond the “investor visa”, please contact us! We are waiting for you at Broadway Consulting!