BoT 628

 

Business over Tapas

A digest of this week's Spanish financial, political and social news aimed primarily at Foreign Property Owners:

Prepared by Lenox Napier.  Consultant: José Antonio Sierra

For Subscriptions and Tip Jar, go here.

email:  lenox@businessovertapas.com  

***Now with Facebook Page (Like!)***

Business over Tapas and its writers are not responsible for unauthorised copying or other improper use of this material.

Subscription and e-mail information in our archives is never released to third parties.

 

 

April 16 2026            Nº 628          

 

Editorial: 

News reaches me from Sweden that Per Svensson has died at the age of 92. 

Per was responsible for me launching my weekly bulletin ‘Business over Tapas’ (so called because Spaniards like to seal their deals over a beer in the bar downstairs). His own weekly mailings were called ‘News from Spain’ and he passed on to me his subscription list when he retired in 2012.

Per was the leader of a Norwegian communist youth group and was charged with looking after the cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin on a good-will visit to Oslo sometime after 1961. Per told me that the official schedule of speeches and photo opportunities was soon broken as Gagarin wanted to go drinking. He presented Per with a stainless-steel Soviet watch and twenty-five different ways of saying ‘Cheers’ in Russian.

We next hear of Per moving to Spain in 1966 where, he writes, ‘…I became a privileged witness to the great transition from a rotten dictatorship to a modern democracy…’. Per’s first business was in real estate, working out of Tenerife – where experience and tricks learned there set him in good knowledge for his main role, as founder of the Institute of Foreign Property Owners out of Altea in Alicante, a service he started in 1982. In 1985 he published a book called ‘Your Home in Spain – before and after the purchase’ which was followed by another 15 editions in six languages. He warned against property-fraud, the time share industry, municipal corruption (we remember the scandal of thousands of homes without building licences sold to unwitting foreigners) and buying off-plan – receiving many threats from local politicians and speculators in the process.

This consumer agency would produce a regular magazine for its many thousands of subscribers with news about property in Spain – the joys and the pitfalls – and included a list of any foreign-sounding name that appeared in the Spanish provincial government bulletins (fines, alerts and so on).

Later Per and a few friends (including me) started Ciudadanos Europeos, a political agitation group pushing to get the vote for foreign residents in Spain. In 1995, we EU citizens were allowed by Felipe González to vote in European elections (whoopee!) but the Minister of the Presidencia, Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba, managed to stop us from the town hall vote (he thought we would vote for the PP) until 1999.

With this going on, plus meetings in Alicante and Málaga and presentations in Madrid at the Complutense, The Valencian government gave Per an office to run his program, but then de-funded it the day after the local elections of 1999 when its use was no longer important.

I next met up with him on a project to open a retirement village for Norwegians from the city of Bergen, with the idea that elderly Northerners would rather move to Spain if the municipal heath service could somehow finance a retirement home for senior citizens (it would be cheaper than one in Scandinavia – and certainly more enjoyable for the residents). The project eventually fell through.

Per spent his later years between Bulgaria (‘it’s marvellous here, and much cheaper than Spain’, he told me) and Hamburg, before finally returning north to a Swedish nursing home where he died earlier this month.

He leaves behind his wife Heidemarie, two sons and a daughter, and our fond memories.

…...

Housing: 

How can there not be enough homes in Spain? There aren't - at least in the places where people would like to live. The properties for sale (or for rent) have increased in price over the last year by a large amount. Ara says 'Spain, the fourth EU state where housing prices increased the most: more than double the average. Real estate prices in the Spanish state grew 12.9% in the last quarter of 2025 compared to the same period of 2024'.  

From a comment raised at Thoughts from Galicia here: ‘The real reason for Spain’s housing crisis is the massive increase in one-person households. In the country, where 50-60 years ago most people lived in large families crammed together under one roof, the housing market has undergone an enormous transformation in the last decades. That and, of course, speculation, immigration, foreigners buying properties all over’. 

As of 2024 (says Google AI), ‘…there are over 27 million total dwellings in Spain. The total housing stock surpassed this threshold for the first time, reflecting growth despite a noted deficit in new construction in high-demand areas. While the total housing stock is high, roughly 3.8 million homes are classified as empty’. Come to think of it, with the population of Spain at 49.5m people, there are more than enough homes if everyone… simply doubled up! Of course, everyone wants to live in or near the city, or near their employment, or where the bright lights are. Few of us prefer the lost and empty country which in Spain is so vast. Perhaps working from home would help or converting those empty downstairs spaces under the apartment blocks or allowing the availability of land for more prefabricated homes. Everybody wants to live near to or in the choicest parts of Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia, and (here we come to the crux of the issue), there is money to be made. 

Another note from Google AI refers to ‘The legacy of 2008: It is estimated that following the 2008 crisis, nearly half a million housing developments were left partially completed or abandoned. Many of these structures remain visible today as concrete "skeletons" in various regions’. These buildings often belong to the ‘Sareb’ (wiki), ‘the bad bank’ (which in my limited experience has little or no interest in selling them). 

From El País here: ‘A roof over one's head for speculators: how housing was perverted and inequality skyrocketed. El ladrillo (viz. ‘housing’), once the largest store of wealth on the planet, has become today the main driver of exclusion’. Or you own a house (or several, or many), or you don’t. “Forty-five percent of the population is suffering from the crisis, and more than four out of ten households cannot afford basic expenses. The economy is growing, but poverty is becoming entrenched, and housing is pushing more households into precarious situations,” says Oxfam Intermón. Recent Eurostat data and OECD-based studies place Spain among the countries with the highest rates of housing overburden; in other words, too many citizens spend more than 40% of their net income on rent…’ 

‘Spain’s Senate has rejected a proposal to build tens of thousands of new public homes in the islands, highlighting the political divide over how to tackle housing shortages in tourist hotspots. The Spanish Senate (under the control of the Partido Popular) has voted against a proposal to launch a large public housing programme of 74,000 affordable public homes in the Balearic Islands and the Canary Islands aimed at easing the housing crisis in both archipelagos…’ More at Spanish Property Insight here. 

And then, from The Olive Press, there’s this: ‘Spain’s crippling housing crisis is not a market failure but a deliberate ‘political choice’ designed to protect the wealth of property owners, a leading sociologist has warned. Javier Gil, a top researcher at the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), claims the country has entered a devastating new era of ‘rentier capitalism’ that is quietly fracturing society…’ 

And while we are distracted by the squatters, the bank foreclosures and the tenants in arrears (and the insistent propaganda from the alarm companies), the fact is that the laws are stricter than the news-stories suggest and the Ministry of the Interior (the Spanish Home Office) reckons there are about 15,000 homes with illegal squatters, or as LaSexta has it: 'Data that debunks alarmist theories about squatting: only 0.05% of homes are occupied'.  

First of all, there must be housing for everyone: not under a bridge or in a bidonville or a camper van or an abandoned shed, but in a reasonably decent home. Then we can concern ourselves with the profiteers. From Google AI here: ‘The right to housing is constitutionally recognized in Spain (Article 47) as a guiding principle, directing public authorities to ensure decent housing and combat speculation. While it is a recognized right, it is not an absolute fundamental right, meaning enforcement depends on public policies and the 2023 Housing Law’. More from Housing Rights Watch here: ‘The State of Housing Rights in Spain’. 

… 

From Sur in English here: ‘Housing prices in Spain's suburbs spiral out of control with more than 100% increases in three years. New residents are driving up prices in many towns, some in rural Spain, according to an analysis by pisos.com’. Some examples are given of smaller town price rises such as Villena (Alicante), with an increase of 135.51% (from 757 euros per square metre in 2023 to 1,783 euros in 2026). 

The Majorca Daily Bulletin has: ‘Companies and investment funds increasing their property buying in the Balearics. Said not to be purchases purely for speculative purposes’.

From Morocco World News here: ‘Foreign buyers purchased more than 66,000 homes in Spain during the second half of 2025, confirming their strong presence in the real estate market despite a slight slowdown in activity. Data from Spain’s General Council of Notaries reported 66,629 transactions between July and December, marking a 4.4% decline compared to the same period in 2024. Most purchases were made by foreign residents, who accounted for nearly two-thirds of all transactions and posted a 3.3% annual increase. British buyers remained in first place with 5,178 purchases, closely followed by Moroccans with 5,154 transactions, just 24 fewer. Italians ranked third, overtaking Germans, while Romanians completed the top five…’

From Reuters here: ‘US property purchases in Spain rise as Americans seek high-end homes’.  

The European homeownership rate by share of households. Spain comes in at 73.6%. The European average is 68.4% says Visual Capitalist here. 

…...

Tourism:

A depressing item we shall no doubt be hearing more of: ‘The war in Iran and the increase in flights ahead of summer are putting the supply of aviation kerosene at risk’ (RTVE). 

…...

Seniors:

From 65 y Más here: ‘Family Finances. Income Tax 2025-2026: What income do people over 65 not have to declare? One of the main benefits relates to primary residences’. Among other things, one of the main benefits concerns primary residences. Those over 65 do not have to pay taxes on the profit made from selling their home. This exemption is particularly advantageous because:

It does not require reinvesting the money in another property.

It also applies if the bare ownership is transferred while the life estate (usufruct) is retained. 

…...

Finance: 

‘Spanish households’ net wealth rises by 11% in 2025 and debt-to-GDP ratio falls to its lowest level since 1999’ says The Corner here. 

From El Independiente here, ‘Spain's tax on labour mean that €182 paid by the company falls to just €100 of salary. According to the Instituto Juan de Mariana, on average, the State receives 45% of a worker's salary between social security contributions, IRPF and IVA’. We read that: ‘Tax and social security revenue in Spain "has increased from €423,513 million in 2018 to €591,679 million in 2024." In other words, since Pedro Sánchez took office, "the tax burden has risen from 34.9% to 37.1% of GDP."’. 

Pedro Sánchez defended China's role as a key player in international stability and the pursuit of peace in the Middle East on Tuesday in Beijing, while also announcing a package of nineteen bilateral agreements that strengthen economic ties between the two countries. Later, following his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Sánchez confirmed the start of a "strategic dialogue" with Beijing and stressed that China should see Spain and Europe as "partners" with whom to invest and cooperate. Of the agreements announced, a dozen are related to the economic sphere, with the aim of boosting trade relations…’ From EuroNews. 

‘Amancio Ortega has struck gold again after building two empires with Inditex and Pontegadea: electricity networks. Amancio Ortega will receive €49.2 million in dividends from his investments in Redeia, REN, and Enagás. The figure seems small compared to the €3,234 million he will receive from Inditex in 2026, but it confirms his strategy of investing in energy networks with regulated revenues’. More at Xataca here.

Fun fact – the world’s wealthiest property owner (with 21,000 million euros in bricks and mortar) is our old friend Amancio, says El País here. 

…...

Politics:

‘Next Saturday, April 18, the Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum will attend a meeting of progressive governments where Pedro Sánchez, Lula da Silva (Brazil), and Gustavo Petro (Colombia) are also expected to be present, at a time of détente between the Mexican government and the Spanish monarchy’. More at elDiario.es here. 

An estimated half a million foreigners will be able to obtain residence permits from today. They would need to have been here at least since Christmas and have a job (or a job offer). Most of them are Latin Americans and this ruling gives them all some protection. They do not have the right (any more than I do as a non-EU Brit) to move to somewhere else within the EU. The rules (and queuing) start here (El País). A complication for immigrants is to obtain a police certificate of no criminal record from their home country (one can imagine the bureaucratic issues that could arise). The PP and Vox are against the regularization with Feijóo inexplicably calling Sánchez ‘the Orbán of the South’. So far, both Madrid and the Balearics have taken the decree to court. 

‘Spain PM Pedro Sánchez's Trump bump. And why Spain refuses to (again) be dragged into someone else's stupid war’. Brendy Boyle Substack here. Interesting!

‘Miguel Ángel Rodríguez (Isabel Díaz Ayuso’s consiglieri) insults and points the finger at the PSOE: “They are criminals who are voted for by the most rotten third of Spaniards”.’. 

…...

War: 

From InfoLibre here: ‘Netanyahu threatens Spain with "an immediate price" for its "diplomatic war" against Israel. Netanyahu ordered the expulsion of Spanish representatives from the Civil-Military Coordination Centre monitoring the ceasefire in Gaza. "I am not prepared to tolerate this hypocrisy or this hostility," he stated in a video message’. Adding fuel to the fire, from El Huff Post here: "The State of Israel will not remain silent in the face of those who attack us. Spain has defamed our heroes, the soldiers of the Israel Defence Forces, the soldiers of the most moral army in the world." While Bibi raves, Abascal is silent (says an ex-voxxer on Twitter): ‘Abascal's silence in the face of Netanyahu's attacks on Spain is unacceptable. If he doesn't feel capable of rising to the occasion, he should step aside’. From Europa Press here: ‘The Minister of Culture Ernest Urtasun denounces the "deafening silence" of the PP and Vox parties after Netanyahu's "threats" to Spain’. The journalist Almudena Ariza says ‘Netanyahu accuses Spain of "defaming" the "most moral army in the world" and warns that it "will pay a price." He is referring to the army that has murdered 70,000 Gazans, mostly civilians, including 20,000 children. And that, in Lebanon alone, has killed more than 2,000 people in a single month in an illegal war’. 

It may be a good time to remember Spain’s recent generosity towards those Sephardic Jews who are descendants of ancestors expelled from Spain in the 15th century that have since been offered Spanish citizenship. 

…...

Europe: 

From 20Minutos here: ‘Pedro Sánchez, Friedrich Merz, Roberta Metsola... European leaders congratulate Péter Magyar on his electoral victory over Orbán in Hungary’. 

From El Mundo here. ‘Triple blow to Vox from Orban's fall: financial, strategic, and future-oriented. The defeat of the Hungarian leader, an ally of Abascal, means that the European group they belong to, Patriots, loses its main representative with institutional power’. 

From The Daily Sabah here: ‘Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez urged the European Union to move toward establishing a joint army, saying the bloc must strengthen its defence capabilities and take a more decisive role on the global stage. Speaking at a summit in Barcelona, Sánchez said Europe must act with greater unity and ambition in response to growing geopolitical challenges, emphasizing the need for collective defence mechanisms’. 

From Forbes here: ‘Europe’s New Border Control, the EES, Is Now Operational. The EU’s new passport control, the EES, was rolled out last week to cover the borders of 450 million people across Europe. Here’s what to know’. 

From The Telegraph here: ‘EU rules to be imposed on Britain under Labour plans. Government to introduce legislation which means trade deals with bloc can be rubber-stamped without full vote in Parliament’. 

…...

Health: 

El Salto Diario has: ‘Andalucía's public healthcare system, the worst rated: an X-ray of ten years of crisis and privatizations. Since 2016, discontent with healthcare in Andalucía has steadily increased, becoming a true social crisis that has mobilized hundreds of thousands of people in the streets to demonstrate their rejection of privatization’. From LaSexta here, the Marea Blanca protests last Sunday across Andalucía.  

…...

Corruption:

The courts ask for information from various bodies, including the specialist national police called the UCO. This can take a shorter or longer time no doubt through procedural issues. This would explain why, after nine months, they still haven’t got the report on the allegedly nefarious activities of Alberto González Amador – Isabel Díaz Ayuso’s boyfriend. 

…...

Courts: 

While the main focus in on the Caso de las Mascarillas (PSOE) and the Caso Kitchen (Rajoy’s PP), other cases are coming up. 

Those 32 people charged in the Almería diputación (Provincial Council)'s 'mask case' will begin testifying before the judge on May 28. The former president of the institution, Javier Aureliano García, is scheduled to appear on June 26, two weeks after the Andalusian Parliament convenes. 

President Sánchez on the case against his wife: “As I have always said, what I ask of the Justice System is that it delivers justice, and since I'm convinced that time will put everyone in their proper place, I have nothing more to say." Opinion from elDiario.es here: ‘The Begoña Gómez case: theft from nothing, a business without profit, corruption without loot. Judge Peinado prosecutes the Prime Minister's wife without finding evidence of the crimes he accuses her of and ignoring the facts that disprove his accusation’. We read: ‘Peinado is accusing her of four crimes: corruption in business, misappropriation, influence peddling, and embezzlement. He is doing so against the advice of the Public Prosecutor's Office, which has long requested the case be dismissed, and with the sole support of private prosecutions from the far-right...’ From elDiario.es again: ‘The General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ) asks the Minister of Justice Félix Bolaños to respect judicial decisions after his lively criticism of Peinado’. From Moncloa.com we read that Judge Peinado wants a jury trial. Those jurors – will they come from Madrid (where Sánchez’ bitter rival Isabel Díaz Ayuso is president)? 

…...

Media: 

From La Crónica de Salamanca here: ‘The same justice system that sees no reason to implicate the People's Party (PP) in the 'Kitchen case,' with a former Interior Minister facing charges for using the National Police to destroy evidence of the party's slush fund, has the audacity to announce this Monday the indictment of Pedro Sánchez's wife, based on mere suppositions and hoping for the best in the trial. Judge Juan Carlos Peinado has concluded the investigation into Begoña Gómez, the Prime Minister's wife, ordering her indictment for the crimes of influence peddling, embezzlement, corruption in business, and misappropriation…’

From a comment on social media: ‘What we are witnessing is not justice: it is a political offensive against democracy. After two years of investigation without evidence, it is clear that the aim is not to find the truth, but to fabricate a narrative. Begoña is being used as a scapegoat to attack the Prime Minister. This is not characteristic of a state governed by the rule of law, but rather of the worst practices of authoritarianism. Judicial persecution for political purposes is a red line that should never be crossed. And it is even more serious that the higher courts are tolerating it’.

Is this a fair case, or a textbook example of lawfare? Your answer will no doubt be based on your politics rather than the facts of the two-year long inquiry. 

From Diario As here: ‘Pedro Sánchez defends the Pope and takes a swipe at Trump. The Prime Minister uses a quote after Trump's criticism of Pope Leo XIV: "He who sows the wind reaps the whirlwind."’. The Pope is due to visit Spain between June 6th and the 12th. 

From Público here: ‘Javier Ruiz from the TV news show Mañaneros 360 explains the current right-wing attacks against RTVE: "It's not a personal matter, it's just business."’. 

El Mundo is not a fan of our Presi. ‘The visit of "Professor" Pedro Sánchez to the Harvard of the Chinese Communist Party. The Chinese President Xi Jinping studied Chemical Engineering at Tshinghua University, also obtaining a doctorate in Marxist theory’. Another less-provocative title might have been: ‘Sánchez receives an Honorary Professorship from the Chinese Academy of Sciences’. 

…...

Ecology: 

Energy prices in Europe explained by The New York Times here: ‘Because of the way Europe sets wholesale electricity prices, even a small amount of fossil fuel in a country’s energy mix can have an outsize effect, anchoring prices higher and cancelling out potential savings from renewables. Some experts say these pricing systems need to be adjusted to accommodate the growth of renewable energy…’ 

Spanish biologists are not keen on invasive species (unless it’s the potato or a wealthy tourist). The current panic is over the number of mapaches, racoons, which are occasionally to be found in the wild. 

…...

Various: 

‘The United Nations Foundation awards Pedro Sánchez “for his leadership on global issues”. The ‘Champion for Global Change’ award, part of the ‘We the Peoples’ awards, recognizes international leaders for their contribution to major global challenges’. Infobae reports here. 

Next to my bed, there are (counting them) 42 books. Obviously, I’m retired, live alone and I don’t watch the TV. Reading books though, is a dying pastime. From The Olive Press here: ‘Worrying figures reveal nearly half of all books available in Spain sell precisely zero copies every year’. Whoops, I just looked again. Now there are 46 books! Note: books here have a reduced IVA of 4%. 

Later (and sadly), Burgos: ‘Spain's oldest bookstore closes: farewell to 176 years of books. 'Hijos de Santiago Rodríguez' will close its doors this May after entering bankruptcy proceedings’. From the ABC here.

A book about the Opus Dei (Wiki) called La Obra from Marina Pereda: ‘A member of Opus Dei since the age of 14: “They don’t put a gun to your head, but the manipulation is constant”’. From elDiario.es here.  Wiki has a list of important members of Opus Dei here. 

From Infobae here: ‘It was intended to be one of the largest spas in Europe, but now it's a ruin in the middle of a natural setting in Alicante: the Relaxation Park. Promoted by the Torrevieja City Council and designed by the famous Japanese architect Toyo Ito, today it stands as an example of the urban planning failures of the real estate boom’. 

From Eye on Spain here: ‘Life on Wheels: navigating Spain’s new 2026 motorhome regulations’. 

The 42 years that the Strait of Hormuz was part of the Spanish Monarchy. This is the little-known story that linked the Island of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf to the interests of Spain and Portugal in the Modern Age. The joint ownership dates from 1515 to 1622. The story is at VozPópuli here. (Actually, despite the headline, more Portuguese than Spanish). Wiki also recalls the history of the island here. 

…...

See Spain: 

Montefrío (Granada), ‘The Village with the Best Views in Spain’. From Eye on Spain here. 

From El Periódico de España here: ‘One of the world's largest collections of arms and armour reopens: this is the new Royal Armoury (Real Armería) of Madrid. National Heritage has completed a comprehensive renovation of the iconic space in the Royal Palace, incorporating new pieces and restoring the effect of the original 19th-century skylight’. 

The Guardian brings us ‘‘‘We are not like the rest of Andalucía’: the rugged charms of Almería, Spain’s desert city’. 

…...

Finally:

This one is good – although it’s created by AI. Listen to Xican, a Mexican voice who sings in Spanish and Náhuatl. The song on YouTube is called Flor Antigua.