Financing a new-build home in Las Palmas as a non-resident buyer

When you buy a resale home in Las Palmas, the mortgage and the purchase usually close on the same day, at the notary. Off-plan works differently: the developer asks for a reservation payment, then further instalments as construction advances, and the final balance only on completion. A mortgage, by contrast, is normally drawn down once the property legally exists and can be registered as security.

That gap between paying the developer and drawing the loan is the part buyers from the United Kingdom find hardest to picture. It is manageable, but it needs to be planned from the first instalment, not discovered later.

Las Palmas covers the eastern Canary Islands, including Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, and Fuerteventura, known for their volcanic landscapes and year-round mild climate. Buyers are often drawn by the subtropical setting and the possibility of outdoor living outside the typical mainland Spanish seasons, including retirees and remote workers.

Airports on the main islands provide regular international connections, supporting both holiday visits and longer stays throughout the year. Property types include coastal apartments, villas, and traditional island houses, with tourism present year-round but often peaking during winter months.

New-build and off-plan projects across the province of Las Palmas spread over several islands, chiefly Gran Canaria, Lanzarote and Fuerteventura, each with its own building rules and its own pace of construction. Lanzarote in particular applies strict architectural controls, limiting building height and requiring traditional colours and forms across most of the island, which shapes what a developer can build and how a project is licensed before the first instalment is even collected. On volcanic terrain, foundations and site preparation can also demand extra stages of certified work before the structure above ground begins to resemble the plans a buyer first saw.

For the bank's technical valuer, this means the project has to be assessed against comparable sales on the same island, since a coastal apartment in Gran Canaria and a villa on volcanic ground in Lanzarote are not interchangeable references. Where an island's building rules restrict height or design more tightly, the valuer will also want to see that the project's licence matches what is actually being built, rather than assuming a generic new-build template applies across all three islands.

Building materials for projects in Las Palmas often travel by sea, either from the mainland or between the islands themselves, and site logistics can depend on weather windows that do not apply in the same way inland on the peninsula. This can stretch the time between one certified stage of work and the next beyond what a buyer used to mainland developments might expect, which in turn affects how instalments and any linked mortgage drawdown are spaced out. A payment schedule that looked tight on paper may need more room in practice once shipping and site access are factored in.

Tourism across the eastern Canary Islands is present throughout the year but tends to peak during the winter months, which is also when many non-resident buyers, including retirees and remote workers, are most likely to be on the islands themselves. Aligning a site visit, a bank valuation appointment or a notary signing with a planned winter stay is often more realistic than trying to fit these steps into a short trip at another time of year.

Las Palmas draws a steady number of retirees and remote workers looking for a milder climate and the possibility of spending long stretches of time outside the usual mainland season. For this profile, the mortgage itself works the same way as any other non-resident purchase: a Spanish tax number and a Spanish bank account are needed before the first instalment, and income and existing debts from the buyer's country will usually need to be presented in a sworn translation, sometimes apostilled, with the exact list depending on the bank.

What buyers in this profile often need to think through separately from the mortgage is how long they can actually stay. The Golden Visa route tied to property investment ended on 3 April 2025 and is no longer available, so it should not be assumed as a path to longer stays. Non-EU citizens can stay up to 90 days in any 180-day period within the Schengen area without a visa, a limit worth planning around well before deciding how much time to spend on the islands each year, separately from arranging the financing itself.

The Canary Islands apply their own indirect tax on new-build purchases in place of the VAT charged on the mainland, alongside stamp duty, while resale purchases carry the transfer tax set by the regional government of the Canary Islands, shown in the table on this page. Notary, land registry, gestoría fees and the bank's own valuation charge sit alongside these taxes in the same way as anywhere else in Spain, though buyers dealing with consulates or apostille offices further from the islands sometimes find that step takes longer to complete than they first expect.

Once the home is finished and in the buyer's name, a non-resident owner still files an annual non-resident income tax return, the Modelo 210, regardless of which island the property sits on. If the property is ever sold later on, the buyer withholds 3% of the price on account of the seller's tax, a rule that applies across Spain and is worth keeping in mind even at the financing stage of a purchase that is only now being built.

Before you commit to the numbers of a mortgage, it helps to know the place: dated figures on population, asking prices, transport links and climate in Las Palmas (province), each with its source. Together they give a grounded sense of Las Palmas (province) to weigh against your budget.

On 1 January 2025 the INE recorded 1,171,547 residents across the entire province of Las Palmas, a figure that includes every municipality, not just the capital that shares its name. These official population data set the context for the local market figures below. The province of Las Palmas registers 171,235 residents of foreign nationality, about 15 out of every 100 people. That share is notable yet far from dominant, and it varies widely between towns within the province.

On 1 January 2025, INE counted 12,622 British nationals registered in the province of Las Palmas, a real presence without being one of the largest foreign communities there. It still points to a visible, ongoing community across the province. Back in 2021 there were 13,948 registered, a higher number than today. The drop is consistent with residents moving elsewhere or simply no longer appearing on the padrón. The following table shows the leading foreign nationalities registered in Las Palmas (province) on 1 January 2025, according to the municipal-level data INE makes available.

Beyond the main nationalities listed above, the INE also registers smaller groups, Germans, Italians, Dutch, Belgians or Scandinavians among them, across Las Palmas province. This breakdown reflects 1 January 2022, the last edition counting every nationality individually, a different year from the table above.

Our price bank includes 2,871 homes for sale throughout the province of Las Palmas, with a median of €2,730/m² and a median ticket of €250,000. Both numbers land close to the €3,210/m² median of the 127 towns we track across Spain. Among current adverts, the central half cluster between €1,810 and €3,990 per square metre; some properties are listed well below this band, others well above it.

Based on €250,000, the median asking price in Las Palmas (province), transfer tax at 6.5 % comes to roughly €16,200; add about €3,000 for notary, registry and gestoría costs and the total reaches approximately €19,200. This amount sits outside the mortgage and has to be available in cash before completion. These are asking prices taken from adverts active on 2026-10-05, not confirmed sale prices. What a buyer actually pays is negotiated, and depends on the condition, exact location and orientation of each home.

Below is a comparison of the towns we follow in Las Palmas, covering inhabitants, foreign residents per 100 inhabitants and median asking prices per square metre across the province.

According to INE's experimental estimate from holiday-rental platform listings, Las Palmas (province) had 26,998 tourist dwellings in 05/2026, offering 115,284 bed places and close to 23 per 1,000 residents. The presence is moderate overall, but a regional licence remains necessary for tourist letting.

Las Palmas (province) is served by these commercial airports: Aeropuerto de Gran Canaria (LPA), Aeropuerto de Lanzarote (ACE), Aeropuerto de Fuerteventura (FUE). Readers should check which one connects with their home airport in the season they intend to fly, since this can change throughout the year. The figures that follow reflect conditions in or around Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, the provincial capital; elsewhere in the province, particularly inland, at altitude or on other islands, the climate can vary considerably. January brings a mean of 17.9 °C and a typical overnight low of 15.0 °C, against an August mean of 24.6 °C and a daily high near 27.5 °C. Winters of this kind rarely demand serious heating. With only about 151 mm of rain a year across roughly 22 days, this is a notably dry area. All figures are AEMET's official 1981-2010 normals for the Gran Canaria Aeropuerto station, about 24 km away; expect small local variations, especially further inland or at higher elevation.

The province of Las Palmas saw 13,258 registered home sales in the year to 06/2026, per INE. A busier market like this generally offers more comparable transactions and greater choice. The figures above cover the whole province of Las Palmas, but they vary widely from town to town and from property to property. Share what you are searching for and we can review the details with you.

The transfer tax on a resale home is set by each Spanish region. In Las Palmas the general rate is 6,5 %, and on top of it come notary, land registry and gestoría (roughly one more percent). On a new build you pay 10 % VAT plus stamp duty instead of the transfer tax. This money is not lent by the bank.

Off-plan contracts in Spain typically set out a reservation fee, one or more staged payments tied to construction milestones, and a final payment on completion, when keys and title are handed over. Spanish law requires developers to guarantee these advance payments, usually through a bank guarantee or insurance policy, so ask to see that document before signing anything.

Because a mortgage is a loan secured on a finished, registered property, banks are generally reluctant to release funds against a home that is still a hole in the ground. In practice, most non-resident buyers cover the early instalments from savings or bridging arrangements in the buyer's home country, and reserve the mortgage for the final balance due at completion.

A Spanish bank valuation (tasación) is a condition for any mortgage, and for a new build it is done in two steps. Early in the process, the valuer works from the architect's project, the licence and the developer's specifications, producing an estimated value on completion. Closer to handover, once the building is finished and registered, a further valuation confirms the actual property before the loan is formally drawn down.

This means the loan amount offered early on is provisional. The bank will usually confirm final terms once the home is complete, matches the original project, and can be inscribed at the land registry in your name. Delays in construction can therefore also delay, though not necessarily reduce, when the mortgage funds actually move.

Spanish banks usually ask non-residents for a larger deposit than they would ask a resident buyer; the exact share depends on the bank, your country and your financial profile, so we compare offers rather than quote a single figure. Proof of income and existing debts from the United Kingdom, such as recent payslips or a P60 and your last Self Assessment return, are generally required, often with a sworn translation into Spanish.

Mortgage terms in Spain usually run until the borrower is around 70 to 75 years old, and you can choose between fixed, variable (Euribor-linked) or mixed rates. None of this changes because the property is new build rather than resale; what changes is simply the timing of when the loan is actually released.

New builds carry 10% VAT plus stamp duty rather than the regional transfer tax applied to resale homes, and you should also budget separately for notary, land registry, gestoría fees and the bank's own valuation charge. Once you own the property, as a non-resident you will file an annual non-resident income tax return (Modelo 210); a local tax adviser can confirm, under the double taxation agreement between Spain and the United Kingdom, exactly how this interacts with what you report to HMRC.

If you later sell, the buyer withholds 3% of the price on account of your Spanish tax, a mechanism worth remembering even at the buying stage, since it shapes how any future sale in Las Palmas will be settled.

Off-plan projects can take a year or more to complete, during which sterling and the euro will move against each other more than once. Because you are converting funds at several points, from reservation to each instalment to the final balance, it is worth discussing currency timing with your adviser rather than treating each transfer as an isolated decision.

Remember, too, that the Golden Visa route tied to property investment ended on 3 April 2025 and is not available for new applications. As a UK citizen you can stay in Spain for up to 90 days in any 180-day period without a visa; anything longer, including time spent overseeing a build, requires a separate visa or residence permit.

Spain is a relatively short flight away from most UK airports, making regular visits to a Spanish property straightforward for owners based in Britain. Many British buyers are drawn to Spain for its climate, coastal lifestyle and established expatriate communities. One practical point to bear in mind is that Spanish inheritance law differs from UK rules, so it is worth taking specific advice on how it may affect the property and one's estate. Currency movements between sterling and the euro can also affect the overall cost of purchase and ongoing expenses.

Spain and the United Kingdom have a double taxation agreement in place, and a local tax adviser should confirm how rental income or gains from Spanish property must be declared and reported to HMRC.

As the United Kingdom is no longer an EU member state, British citizens may stay in Spain for up to 90 days in any 180-day period without a visa, and must apply for a visa or residence permit for longer stays.

Since the United Kingdom uses the pound sterling (GBP) rather than the euro, buyers should factor in exchange-rate movements and currency conversion costs when paying for a property or transferring funds to Spain.