Measures to deter home purchases by foreigners pushed by the far-right party Vox have been defeated in the Spanish Congress, but point to a cross-party push for property market reform in the country.
The Spanish Congress has rejected a proposal by the far-right Vox party to establish a “deterrent tax regime” aimed at dissuading foreigners from buying property in Spain.
Leader Santiago Abascal’s party has called for branch and root reform of the property market with the express aim of giving preference to Spanish nationals in accessing social housing and other housing aid.
READ ALSO: Far-right Vox back limits on foreigners buying homes in Spain
The motion, which was the result of an urgent Vox petition to Spain’s Housing Minister, Isabel Rodríguez, did not achieve the necessary support in a vote on Wednesday. During the vote, the centre-right Partido Popular abstained, despite being openly critical of what it perceives as the governing Socialists’ (PSOE) failed housing policy.
All other parties voted against the measure. Far-left party Podemos has also petitioned Rodríguez to appear in Congress, showcasing the ideological range of calls of housing market reform in Spain.
READ ALSO: Spain’s far-right Vox rises in the polls at expense of centre-right
The Vox initiative included various measures to tackle what the party describes as a “housing emergency”, such as the elimination of VAT (IVA in Spain) and the Property Transfer Tax (ITP) on the purchase of primary residences.
The package also included efforts to spur construction, such as freeing up land and removing “unnecessary” regulatory shackles on industry.
Apart from this “dissuasive tax regime”, Vox also wants to prioritise Spaniards having access to related social benefits.
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Abascal has previously claimed that the left-wing PSOE government subsidises housing for undocumented migrants, allowing them to rent at a much cheaper rate than Spaniards. The party also recently proposed deporting 8 million foreigners in Spain.
The housing market, particularly rising prices for both rentals and purchases, has become a huge point of contention in Spanish politics and society in recent years.
At the beginning of this year, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced that his government would effectively double the sale price of properties for foreigners: “We have decided that we are going to limit the purchase of properties by non-EU foreigners from outside the EU”, he said, by drafting a law for a 100 percent tax on property for foreign buyers.
READ ALSO: Who exactly would have to pay Spain’s 100 percent property tax?
