Escrito por Nicki Price, CEO
If you sell your main home in Spain and reinvest the whole sale price into another main home, anywhere in Costa Blanca, Costa Cálida, Costa del Sol or Costa Almería, you pay no capital gains tax (CGT) on the gain at all. This is the "exención por reinversión en vivienda habitual" (main-residence reinvestment exemption), set out in the Spanish personal income tax law (Ley 35/2006 del IRPF and its regulation Real Decreto 439/2007). You must be a Spanish tax resident, both properties must be your habitual residence, and you must reinvest within two years. Reinvest only part of the proceeds and only that proportion of the gain is exempt, the rest is taxed at the savings rates of 19%-28%.
This guide explains exactly how the relief works when you upgrade or downsize along the coast in 2026, what counts as reinvestment, the traps non-residents fall into, and the other taxes (plusvalía municipal, ITP, AJD) that run alongside the move.
For a Spanish tax resident, the gain on selling a property is the difference between the sale price and the acquisition cost (price you paid plus the purchase taxes, notary, registry and documented improvements). That gain is added to the "savings base" of your income tax and taxed on a sliding scale by the Agencia Tributaria.
| Gain band | Rate |
|---|---|
| Up to €6,000 | 19% |
| €6,000 - €50,000 | 21% |
| €50,000 - €200,000 | 23% |
| €200,000 - €300,000 | 27% |
| Over €300,000 | 28% |
Non-residents pay a flat 19% on the gain and do not qualify for the reinvestment exemption described below, see the distinction in our guide to Spain tax residency and the 183-day rule. Whether you are resident is the single most important fact in this whole article.
Yes, if the home you sell is your vivienda habitual (main residence) and you reinvest the sale proceeds into another main residence, the gain is deferred and, when fully reinvested, effectively exempt under Ley 35/2006. There is no requirement to stay in the same province or autonomous community, so selling an apartment in Torrevieja (Costa Blanca) and buying a villa in Estepona (Costa del Sol) qualifies exactly as a local move does. What matters is the nature of each property, not the postcode.
Three conditions must all hold:
The exemption is proportional to how much of the net sale proceeds you put back into a new main home. If you reinvest everything, 100% of the gain is exempt. If you reinvest half, half the gain is exempt and the other half is taxed at the savings rates. The "net proceeds" figure is the sale price minus any mortgage you were repaying on the sold property.
A simplified worked example, Costa del Sol to Costa Blanca:
The money used for the new home can include a mortgage, you do not have to reinvest only cash, but tax inspectors look at the total committed to the new habitual residence, so keep clean records of the purchase price, the taxes, and the deeds.
You have two years to reinvest, and crucially the window runs both ways. You can buy the new home up to two years after the sale, or you can buy the new home first and then sell the old one within the following two years, useful for a chain, as we explain in property chains and selling to buy in Spain. The clock is counted from the date on the escritura, the deed signed before the notary.
You declare the intention to reinvest in your annual income tax return (Modelo 100) for the year of the sale, even if the reinvestment has not yet happened. If you later fail to reinvest within the window, you must file a corrected return and pay the tax plus late-payment interest, so only claim the exemption if you genuinely intend to complete the move.
No. The 3% withholding on the sale price under Modelo 211 applies only when the seller is a non-resident, the buyer retains 3% and pays it to the Agencia Tributaria against the non-resident's CGT. A resident seller receives the full price and settles any CGT through the annual Modelo 100. This is one reason tax residency should be confirmed with your lawyer well before completion, as covered in our walkthrough of notary and completion day in Spain. The mechanics of the sale itself, including the 3% retention, are set out in our guide to selling property in Spain: taxes, costs and steps.
If you are 65 or over and sell your habitual residence, the gain is fully exempt from CGT under Ley 35/2006 regardless of reinvestment, you do not need to buy another home at all. This matters for many of the retirees who downsize from a large inland villa to a lock-up-and-leave apartment near the beach in Guardamar del Segura or Benalmádena. The exemption is for the main residence only; a holiday home or a rented-out second property does not qualify and is taxed normally. If you are weighing where to settle, our Benalmádena area guide and coastal cost-of-living comparison are a useful starting point.
The reinvestment exemption only addresses CGT on the sale. Buying the new home still carries its own transfer or VAT cost, and these vary sharply by region, which is exactly why moving between the four costas needs its own sums. Resale homes pay transfer tax (ITP); new builds pay 10% IVA plus stamp duty (AJD).
| Coast (region) | Resale ITP | New build |
|---|---|---|
| Costa Blanca (C. Valenciana) | 9% (deeds signed from 1 June 2026, Ley 5/2025; 11% band above €1M) | 10% IVA + 1.4% AJD |
| Costa Cálida (Murcia) | 7.75% (Ley 3/2025) | 10% IVA + 1.5% AJD |
| Costa del Sol (Andalucía) | 7% | 10% IVA + 1.2% AJD |
| Costa Almería (Andalucía) | 7% | 10% IVA + 1.2% AJD |
On the Costa Blanca the new 9% ITP (down from 10%) is decided by the notary signing date, not the arras/deposit date, so a deed signed from 1 June 2026 gets the lower rate. The tax base is the higher of the price you pay or the Catastro's "valor de referencia", a point most competitor articles miss; if the reference value is above your price, ITP is charged on the reference value. On top of the tax, budget notary (~0.2-0.5%), land registry (~0.1-0.25%), lawyer (~1% + IVA) and gestoría (~€300). As a rule of thumb, add ~10-13% on a resale and ~12-15% on a new build, the lower end in Andalucía, the higher end on the Costa Blanca.
Separate from CGT, the seller normally pays the plusvalía municipal (Impuesto sobre el Incremento de Valor de los Terrenos de Naturaleza Urbana) to the town hall, a tax on the increase in the land value since you bought, calculated under the method introduced by Real Decreto-ley 26/2021. The reinvestment exemption does not cover plusvalía; it is a local tax owed whenever an urban plot changes hands, though you can choose the calculation method that produces the lower bill and you owe nothing if there was no real gain. Rates and multipliers differ by municipality, so a sale in Orihuela, Cartagena or Marbella will produce three different figures.
No. Both the old and the new property must be your habitual residence, your genuine main home, not an investment or tourist rental. If you plan to let out the new place part of the year you risk losing the exemption, and you would also need the correct licence, as explained in our tourist rental licence guide. Buyers upgrading into a buy-to-let instead should read our Costa Cálida and Almería yields guide, that is a different tax path entirely.
Across the four costas Mediter currently lists 8,388 properties for sale, spanning Costa Blanca South, Costa Blanca North, Costa Cálida, Costa del Sol and Costa Almería. That spread is exactly what makes a cross-coast reinvestment move practical: a resident selling a townhouse in the Costa Blanca South and buying a sea-view apartment on the Costa del Sol can line up both ends through a single agency, keeping the two escritura dates inside the two-year window. If you want a feel for the price gaps that drive these upgrade and downsize moves, compare our area pages for the four coasts side by side.
No. The exención por reinversión under Ley 35/2006 is only for Spanish tax residents selling their habitual residence. Non-residents pay a flat 19% CGT on the gain and the buyer retains 3% of the price via Modelo 211.
Generally three continuous years, though the law accepts shorter periods where you move for a justified reason such as a job relocation, marriage, divorce or serious health grounds. Your lawyer should confirm your situation before you rely on the exemption.
Yes. The two-year reinvestment window runs in both directions, so you can buy first and sell within two years, or sell first and buy within two years. Dates are taken from the notarised escritura.
No, the exemption is proportional. If you reinvest, say, 70% of the net sale proceeds, 70% of the gain is exempt and the remaining 30% is taxed at the 19%-28% savings rates.
No. Plusvalía municipal is a separate town-hall tax on the land-value increase, owed by the seller on the sale regardless of reinvestment. CGT and plusvalía are two different taxes.
No. Sellers aged 65 or over are fully exempt from CGT on the gain from their habitual residence under Ley 35/2006, with no requirement to buy another home.
Whether you are upgrading from an apartment to a villa, downsizing for retirement, or switching coasts entirely, Mediter Real Estate can line up both the sale and the purchase and point you to a Spanish tax lawyer so your reinvestment stays inside the two-year window. Contact us at info@mediter.com or +34 744 719 499 to talk through your move across Costa Blanca, Costa Cálida, Costa del Sol and Costa Almería.
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