Spain's government has included tax relief on mortgages for a buyer's main home in the housing decree it is preparing, according to reporting by Ana Cabanillas in El Día, citing sources involved in the talks. The measure matters for would-be homebuyers because the plan under discussion would allow people who take out a mortgage on their habitual residence after the decree comes into force to deduct part of that cost in IRPF, Spain's personal income tax.

The same package is also said to include an extension of rental contracts, rules on seasonal lets and a rise in VAT on tourist flats. The government is still negotiating the text so it can secure a parliamentary majority, while Junts has made housing tax deductions one of its main conditions for backing the decree.

What the proposed mortgage relief would cover

According to El Día, the draft being discussed includes IRPF relief for mortgages used to buy a first home. The report says the government is studying how to reflect Junts' demands in the final text and that the broad approach would apply from the moment the new decree takes effect.

Cabanillas reports that a similar deduction was in force in Spain until 2013, after existing for decades under governments led by both PSOE and PP. Under that earlier system, taxpayers could deduct 15% of mortgage costs, including capital and interest, plus related expenses, up to an annual ceiling of €9,040, which meant savings of about €1,356 a year on an IRPF return.

The report also says the new scheme would follow a similar spirit, but the bands and limits are still being discussed. One issue still open is whether to set a cap linked to the number of homes a buyer already owns before they can qualify for the tax benefit.

"The government includes in the housing decree the deduction for mortgages on a habitual residence, as Junts requires," El Día reported on Wednesday.

Other measures under discussion in the decree

Alongside the mortgage tax relief, the package under negotiation contemplates several other housing measures, according to the same report. For tenants and landlords, the most immediate point is that the decree is expected to include the rental contract extension that the government has been seeking support for in Congress.

  • an extension of rental contracts
  • regulation of seasonal rentals
  • a VAT increase on tourist flats
  • IRPF relief for mortgages on a main home

On tourist accommodation, Spain already has a new national framework in place for short-term rental data. Real Decreto 1312/2024, of 23 December, regulates the procedure for a single rental register and creates a digital one-stop shop for collecting and exchanging data on short-stay accommodation rental services.

The broader housing push also sits alongside measures previously announced by Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez. In January 2025, La Moncloa said he had presented 12 measures to strengthen the right to housing, although that announcement did not itself set out the mortgage deduction now being negotiated.

What readers should watch next

No final decree text has yet been published in the official state gazette, the BOE. That means buyers, tenants and owners should treat the mortgage deduction and the rest of the package as measures under negotiation until the government approves the decree and it appears in the Boletín Oficial del Estado.

For anyone planning a home purchase or reviewing a tenancy this summer, the practical next step is to watch for the final wording, especially on who qualifies, the percentage deductible, any ownership limit and the date the rules would start to apply. As of Wednesday 9 July, those points were still being negotiated, according to the report in El Día.

Primary sources: lamoncloa.gob.es, boe.es, boe.es. Reported by Ana Cabanillas, cuatrecasas.com, thespainpost.com, bakermckenzie.com, Iñaki Pardo Torregrosa, By Álex Moreno, europapress.es, en.lacotorra.io, Roger Palós, By Demócrata, idealista.com, thelocal.es, Gentile Law, Mark Stücklin, osborneclarke.com, russpain.com.