On 3 April, the amendment to Law 14/2013 of 27 September on support for entrepreneurs and their internationalisation came into force, officially ending investment visas, commonly known as ‘golden visas’.
This change followed the publication on 3 January of Organic Law 1/2025 of 2 January, introducing measures to improve the efficiency of the public justice service. The first law passed in 2025 provided a three-month period for repealing Articles 63 to 67 of Law 14/2013, which had until then governed the residency scheme for foreign nationals making significant investments in Spain — including the purchase of property worth at least €500,000.
Between 2013 and 2025, nearly 16,000 visas were granted to non-EU foreign nationals – just 0.3% of the residential property market transacted.
The ‘golden visa’, or residency-by-investment permit, was initially created to attract foreign capital during the economic crisis of 2013, encouraging the acquisition of real estate and other assets such as government bonds, investment funds, or shares in Spanish companies and projects of general interest.
The most recent figures from 2024 show that the number of ‘golden visa’ applications is nearing 800. Despite the government’s announcement almost a year ago, investments are still allowed for those who had applied before the new regulation came into effect.
Will scrapping golden visas help Spain’s housing crisis?
The golden visa allowed wealthy foreigners — most notably from China, Russia, the UK and the US — to buy their way into Spain, often snapping up prime real estate in many of Spain’s hotspots.. Critics have long argued that this contributed to soaring rents and property prices in these already saturated markets.
But analysts suggest removing golden visa buyers won’t really help most Spanish residents. “It may slightly ease pressure at the very top of the market, but that’s not where the housing shortage lies,” says finance professor David Felipe Echeverry Perez. Spain’s real problem is structural. Only 2.5 per cent of housing stock is classified as social housing — far below, for instance, France’s 14 per cent. The result? A private rental market where landlords dominate and tenants lack protection.
Sources: Idealista and EWN.