Sorello Guides

The cost of buying a home in Maó

At 2.812,2 €/m² appraisals are firmly in the expensive half of the country. Second homes are a minority presence, at 25,41 % of the dwelling stock. Maó is a town rather than a city, which in Illes Balears usually means one estate agency network knows most of the stock.

What the deed itself costs

At Maó price levels the Balearic Islands transfer tax is worth several months of most household budgets, so it belongs in the offer, not after it. Balearic Islands charges transfer tax on a progressive scale rather than a single rate, starting at 8 % and rising through bands as the value goes up; the table below applies the scale bracket by bracket.

Transfer tax on a resale purchase, at three illustrative prices
Purchase priceTransfer tax
200.000 €16.000 €
350.000 €28.000 €
600.000 €50.000 €

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 Balearic Islands

In context

Compared with the rest of Illes Balears in this guide, it sits second lowest on tax rate on construction work.

Taking every municipality covered here together, the average cadastral value per home is in the seventeenth twentieth from the bottom.

Within Illes Balears, that is the sixth highest average cadastral value per home among the municipalities this guide covers.

Against every municipality in this guide, its appraised value per square metre lands in the band just inside the top fifth.

Within Illes Balears, that is the lowest number of appraisals behind the average among the municipalities this guide covers.

Put beside its neighbours

Measured against the whole batch, that number of notarised home sales sits in the fourth-cheapest twentieth.

On share of the urban register that is housing it is the fifth lowest of the Illes Balears municipalities this guide covers.

Over the whole guide, the rural property-tax rate recorded here falls within the eighth twentieth from the bottom.

Ranked against its neighbours in Illes Balears, it holds the fourth lowest count of registered residential units of the group.

Country-wide, that total dwelling stock is one of the bottom quarter.

In context

Take Illes Balears alone: among the municipalities here, its number of urban cadastral units is the fifth lowest.

Nationally, that share of dwellings that are not a main residence falls in the upper middle of the range.

Take Illes Balears alone: among the municipalities here, its population is the third lowest.

Country-wide, that year of the last cadastral revision is one of the band just below the middle.

The recurring yearly cost

At 84.361 € per dwelling, the Maó cadastral base is high enough that the rate matters.

Land classed as rural is taxed at 0,65 %.

At 0,65 %, the Maó urban IBI rate is an ordinary one.

180.000 € of cadastral value at 0,65 % is 1.170 € a year, but the base is dated and a revision would change it sharply.

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.

The pace of sales

With 14.270 residential units on the register, that is moderate turnover of the existing stock.

Sales clustered in Second quarter and thinned in Third quarter, the ordinary Spanish seasonal pattern.

Maó saw 404 notarised home sales over the year, a steady rate for its population.

Notarised home sales by quarter, 2025
QuarterSales
First quarter89
Second quarter115
Third quarter86
Fourth quarter114

What the housing stock is like

25,41 % of dwellings in Maó are not a main residence — a normal proportion for an inland town.

15.173 dwellings were counted at the census.

Almost the whole register is housing: 14.270 residential units out of 23.794 urban ones.

The cadastral values are dated

The Maó register dates from 2005; a future revision could move the yearly bill significantly even if the rate never changes.

The tax on construction work is 3 %, so a refurbishment budget should carry it.

An expensive market, measured

Maó appraises at 2.812,2 €/m², expensive by national standards and rising faster than incomes.

It rests on 91 appraisals, a thin base that a few unusual properties can move.

Related guides

Sources and licences