The ladder runs 18%, then 26%, then 31%, then 36%, then 39%, then 41%, then 45%.
47%at the top of the ladder, on 50% of the profit
The ladder runs 19%, then 24%, then 30%, then 37%, then 45%, then 47%.
Only 50% of a positive rental profit is taxable, so the top rate comes to 23.5% of the whole profit.
Capital gainswhen you sell
Added to your other income
There is no separate rate: the gain is stacked on your other income in South Africa and taxed in the bands it reaches.
Freeholt does not model a general income ladder for South Africa, so the bands it joins are not shown here.
Only 40% of the gain is taxable.
7.5% of the sale price is held back at settlement from a non resident seller. It counts against the bill rather than adding to it.
30%top rate on its own scale
The gain is taxed on a scale of its own in Spain, apart from other income, from 19% to 30%.
A non resident pays a flat 19%.
3% of the sale price is held back at settlement from a non resident seller. It counts against the bill rather than adding to it.
Annual property taxevery year you hold it
0.70%a year on the property value
0.66%a year on the assessed value
Charged on the official assessed value rather than the market price, which is typically nearer 50% of it.
Duty on purchaseone off, on the way in
5%of the price, the published rule
Transfer duty is priced from the SARS table in force from 1 April 2026: nil to R1,210,000, then 3/6/8/11/13% in slices (a R1,500,000 house owes R8,700). Same rates for a person, a company, a close corporation and a trust. If the SELLER is a registered VAT vendor (usually a developer) the sale carries 15% VAT INSTEAD of transfer duty, normally inside the advertised price. No foreign buyer surcharge. Municipal rates ~0.5 to 1%/yr of value; conveyancing and Deeds Office fees are extra.
8%averageof the price, on average
This headline is a national average. The published rule is regional or banded, so enter a price to see what it actually charges.
ITP on a resale is set by the autonomous community and priced per community once one is chosen, with Catalonia on its own progressive ladder: from 4% in the Basque Country to 13% at the top of the Catalan scale. Until a community is chosen an 8% national average is used. A new build is outside ITP and pays 10% IVA (VAT) plus about 1.5% AJD (stamp duty) instead. IBI is about 0.4 to 1.1% of the valor catastral; entering the cadastral value gives an exact figure (≈50% of market is assumed otherwise). A proposed 100% surcharge on non EU buyers is not law and not computed.
House pricesaverage change a year, last ten years
3.5%a year, on its own national series
The last 5 years: 2021 +6.0% · 2022 +3.5% · 2023 +0.9% · 2024 +1.1% · 2025 +5.5%.
Source: BIS residential property prices, nominal, national, local currency, fourth quarter over fourth quarter (FRED mirrors it as Q<CC>N628BIS).
6.4%a year, on its own national series
The last 5 years: 2021 +6.3% · 2022 +5.5% · 2023 +4.3% · 2024 +11.3% · 2025 +12.9%.
Source: BIS residential property prices, nominal, national, local currency, fourth quarter over fourth quarter (FRED mirrors it as Q<CC>N628BIS).
The same purchase in both
South Africa, on ZAR 15,992,835
ZAR 1,590,225Duty on the way in
ZAR 111,950Annual property tax
Spain, on €860,230
€68,818Duty on the way in
€2,839Annual property tax
Priced at $1,000,000, converted at rates of 2026-09-08 and held there so the example does not drift.
This is the country. Your own price, loan and years held are the other half.