Sorello Guides

Buying in Santander: tax, IBI and the market

Second homes are a minority presence, at 22,42 % of the dwelling stock. Santander is a city, and in Cantabria that means its districts behave like separate markets that happen to share a town hall. At 2.600,8 €/m² appraisals are firmly in the expensive half of the country.

The bill that lands on the day of the deed

Cantabria applies 9 %, among the highest transfer-tax rates in Spain. At Santander price levels the Cantabria transfer tax is worth several months of most household budgets, so it belongs in the offer, not after it.

Transfer tax on a resale purchase, at three illustrative prices
Purchase priceTransfer tax
200.000 €18.000 €
350.000 €31.500 €
600.000 €54.000 €

The three prices are round illustrative figures chosen to bracket the ordinary range, not measurements of this market.

The reduced rates, stamp duty and the deed checklist for Cantabria

Put beside its neighbours

Of the Cantabria municipalities covered here, this one comes highest on number of urban cadastral units.

Against every municipality in this guide, its count of registered residential units lands in the second-dearest twentieth.

Judged only against Cantabria, the total dwelling stock here is the highest in the guide.

Country-wide, that population is one of the third-dearest twentieth.

Judged only against Cantabria, the number of notarised home sales here is the highest in the guide.

How it ranks

Over the whole guide, the number of appraisals behind the average recorded here falls within the third-dearest twentieth.

Among the Cantabria towns and cities covered here, it records the highest average cadastral value per home.

Taking every municipality covered here together, the average cadastral value per home is in the third-dearest twentieth.

Set against the other Cantabria municipalities in this guide, it has the lowest urban property-tax rate.

Nationally, that share of the urban register that is housing falls in the fourth-cheapest twentieth.

Put beside its neighbours

Compared with the rest of Cantabria in this guide, it sits second highest on appraised value per square metre.

Put beside the rest of the country, its rural property-tax rate belongs to the top quarter.

Judged only against Cantabria, the year of the last cadastral revision here is the third lowest in the guide.

Put beside the rest of the country, its tax rate on construction work belongs to the second-dearest twentieth.

What the housing stock is like

The census counted 93.407 dwellings across the municipality.

93.919 of 165.691 urban units are residential, a housing-led register.

22,42 % of dwellings in Santander are not a main residence — a normal proportion for an inland town.

How old the cadastral values are

The last general revision in Santander was 2010, so cadastral values sit some way below market values.

The construction tax is 4 %, the statutory maximum, which matters if you plan to renovate.

The pace of sales

Santander saw 2.477 notarised home sales over the year, a steady rate for its population.

The year was almost flat: Second quarter was the busiest quarter and Third quarter the quietest, with little between them.

With 93.919 residential units on the register, that is moderate turnover of the existing stock.

Notarised home sales by quarter, 2025
QuarterSales
First quarter634
Second quarter666
Third quarter582
Fourth quarter595

An expensive market, measured

Santander appraises at 2.600,8 €/m², expensive by national standards and rising faster than incomes.

551 appraisals stand behind it, enough for the average to be stable.

The premium for new build is clear: 3.130,1 €/m² against 2.587,1 €/m² for anything older.

The yearly bill, and why it is small here

The rural rate of 0,87 % is unusually close to the urban one.

Santander levies 0,4 % on urban property, one of the lowest IBI rates you will meet.

At 90.400 € per dwelling, the Santander cadastral base is high enough that the rate matters.

A cadastral value of 180.000 € taxed at 0,4 % gives 720 €, though the register is old enough that real values have moved.

The cadastral value in this example is a round illustrative figure, not the cadastral value of any particular property here. Ask for the last IBI receipt: it states the real one.

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