Spain plans to tackle housing crisis with 100% tax on homes bought by foreigners.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Monday proposed a package of measures aimed at alleviating a shortage of homes, high rents and rising house prices across the country, with foreign home buyers and mass tourism seen as contributing to housing pressures.

“The West faces a decisive challenge: not to become a society divided into two classes, that of rich owners and poor tenants,” he said, noting that housing prices in Europe had increased by 48% in the last decade, almost twice as much as household income.

Announcing 12 reforms designed to address the crisis, Sanchez said the government’s proposals include a plan to make sure tourism apartments were taxed “like a business” and a proposal to levy a 100% tax on the value of homes bought by non-EU residents.

Source: CNBC