Development or a finished flat: what to choose

The choice between a development and a finished flat is a choice between a long project with construction management and a short project with transaction management. A promoción is the construction of housing for sale: the term is measured in years, entry requires land and a licence, the result appears on the sales of flats. A finished flat is bought and resold or let, the term is shorter, the lever on value is smaller. The market so far chooses the second path: across Spain in July 2026, 78.4% of the flats bought were resale (INE, ETDP).

What is happening to the supply of new flats

The number of flats in projects that have passed visado shows how much new housing is being prepared, and it does so ahead of construction and well ahead of completion.

Source: COAC, as reported by Merca2 on 17 July 2026. The figures jump from half-year to half-year, and for an investor that is a signal not about return but about competition for land and about the schedule's dependence on visado and licences.

How entry taxes differ

This is the main formal difference between the models, and it is calculated before any bargaining.

On the purchase of an asset subject to ITP (transfer tax on second-hand property) in Catalonia the tax is paid by the buyer on a progressive scale: 10% on the part of the price up to 600,000 €, 11% on the part from 600,000 to 900,000 €, 12% up to 1.5 M€ and 13% above that; for a buyer with gran tenedor status (a large-scale property holder) the rate is 20% (the Agència Tributària de Catalunya scale, in force since 27.06.2025). A breakdown: ITP in Catalonia and the 20% rate.

If the seller is a company and the transaction is subject to IVA (Spanish value added tax), the calculation is different: IVA instead of ITP, plus AJD (stamp duty on notarial documents) at 1.5% on a first transfer with IVA and 3.5% where the IVA exemption is waived (ATC guide). For the IVA rate currently applying to housing and construction works see Agencia Tributaria: I do not quote it as a figure, it depends on the asset and the regime of the transaction, and that is a question for an asesor fiscal (tax adviser) (IVA or ITP).

For a promotor (the party that commissions and finances the works) there is a separate mechanism: when construction or rehabilitación works are commissioned by a promotor, inversión del sujeto pasivo (reverse charge) may apply, and the tax is charged and deducted by the customer (art. 84.Uno.2.f LIVA). Applicability is confirmed by an asesor fiscal (IVA on renovation and purchase).

What to compare across five criteria

The quota applies only to large projects: for development and full refurbishment above 600 m² in Barcelona, 30% goes to protected housing (Ajuntament), with a maximum sale price of 2,913.18 €/m² of usable area in 2026 (Generalitat).

What this looks like in a worked calculation

Worked example, not a forecast. The amounts, apart from the tax rates, are round assumptions of the example.

A finished flat at 500,000 €. ITP on the scale at 10%, that is 50,000 €, plus an assumption of 10,000 € for the notary, the registry and the gestoría. Entry costs 560,000 €, and entry costs eat 12% of the asset price before any work starts.

A development. Land with conveyancing 2 M€, design and licence 300,000 €, construction with contingency 2.4 M€. Entry is stretched over years and goes in tranches, but part of the input IVA is recovered by the project under the general rules. With revenue of 6 M€ and selling costs of 240,000 €, the balance comes to 1.06 M€ before the cost of money and tax on the result.

These balances cannot be compared directly: they have different terms and different volumes of capital. For different terms, look at IRR and its limits (how it works and where it misleads), not at the absolute difference.

How long the exit takes

For a finished flat the portal gives a reference: on idealista data for Q2 2026, of the housing sold through the portal 7% spent less than a week on the listing, 19% from a week to a month, 27% from one to three months, 36% from three months to a year and 11% more than a year. This is time on the listing, not time to escritura (the notarial deed).

For a development the exit is split into parts: flats are sold one by one, and the term depends on how far the building has progressed. In return, new flats are handed over with their own cédula de habitabilidad (the certificate of fitness for habitation), whose validity for new housing is 25 years (Decret 141/2012, art. 9), and with the LOE liability periods: a year for finishes, three years for habitabilidad, ten years for the structure (art. 19 LOE). That liability stays with the seller.

Who neither model suits

A development does not suit anyone who needs the capital by a date, who expects payouts on a schedule and who has no reserve for an overrun. A finished flat does not suit anyone who wants to control the product as a whole: the lever there is limited to the refurbishment and the entry price. Neither model suits anyone counting on a promised return: no format promises one, and the time to sell cannot be set in advance.

Both scenarios can be put side by side on your own numbers in the investor calculator; the approach to residential projects is described on the residential property page.