Spain 'homebuyer ban' may leave Britons out in cold

Brexit blamed as Spanish PM targets non-EU residents

- AMELIA NEATH

Brexit has been blamed for ruining the plans of Britons looking to move to Spain, following an announcement by the country’s prime minister that he is looking to ban property purchases by those from outside the European Union.

The move by Pedro Sanchez is an attempt to curb rising housing prices. “We will propose to ban these non-EU foreigners who are not residents, and their relatives, from buying houses in our country since they only do so to speculate,” he said.

He added that non-EU residents represent about 23,000 of almost 700,000 homes bought and sold every year in Spain. Of all foreigners buying property in the country, British buyers lead the way with almost 10 per cent of transactions.

A group that advocates for Britons in Spain believes the UK’s withdrawal from the European Union is the root cause of distress for those who had been hoping to move to sunnier shores.

“Many British nationals on lower incomes, who had hopes of retirement on the Costas, have already had their dreams shattered [by Brexit],” said Sue Wilson, the head of Bremain in Spain, a group with 6,000 members, told