DNPI CAPITAL / GLOSSARY
The terms that come up in a purchase, in taxes, in permits and in return calculations. Each definition is short and links to the article that covers the topic with primary sources. Rates and rules as of .
The top tiers of the housing market. Barcelona has no single threshold: Knight Frank usually treats the top 5% of the market as prime, Savills works from the average price of its own sample, and brokers use their own ranges. Prime figures from different reports are therefore not directly comparable.
Full guide ↗A value the Spanish Cadastre sets each year for every property from notarised sales. Since 2022 it has been the minimum base for transfer tax (ITP): if the deed price is lower, the tax is charged on the reference value. It can be challenged, but the burden of proof is on the taxpayer.
Full guide ↗An appraisal under Order ECO/805/2003 by a valuation company registered with the Bank of Spain. It is ordered mainly for mortgages: the bank lends against the lower of the purchase price and the appraisal. A market valuation for an investor answers a different question: what the property actually sells for today.
Full guide ↗A way to find the maximum price for a plot. Construction, taxes, fees, financing and the developer's target profit are deducted from the expected sales of the finished units; what remains is what the project can afford to pay for the land. Order ECO/805/2003 sets out the method, and it is highly sensitive to the sale price.
Full guide ↗An extract from the Land Registry showing the owner, the property description, mortgages, attachments and other charges (cargas). Anyone can request it online from the Registradores website. It is informative rather than a certificate, so a fresh one is obtained before signing.
Full guide ↗A deposit contract signed before the notarial deed. Most often these are arras penitenciales: a buyer who walks away loses the deposit, and a seller who walks away returns it doubled. A lawyer should check the type of arras, the deadlines and the withdrawal terms before signing.
Full guide ↗The escritura is the sale deed signed before a notary. It is then entered in the Land Registry, which protects the buyer against third parties, including against later charges. The registrar decides within 15 days of the document being logged (art. 18 of the Mortgage Act).
Full guide ↗ · Primary source: Ley HipotecariaA Generalitat document confirming that a home meets the minimum standards of Decree 141/2012. It is valid for 15 years. Without it a home in Catalonia cannot be let, and it can only be sold with specific provisions in the contract.
Full guide ↗ · Primary source: Decret 141/2012The tax on buying resale homes and other property from a private seller. In Catalonia it is progressive by bands: 10% up to €600,000, 11% up to €900,000, 12% up to €1.5m and 13% on the excess. A buyer classed as a gran tenedor pays 20% on residential purchases.
Full guide ↗ · Primary source: Agència Tributària de CatalunyaOn the first sale of a new home, 10% VAT (IVA) is paid instead of ITP; commercial units and building plots carry 21%. Stamp duty on the notarial deed (AJD) is added on top: in Catalonia the general rate is 1.5%, with higher rates in specific cases.
Full guide ↗ · Primary source: Ley 37/1992 del IVAA municipal tax on the increase in land value, paid by the seller. Since 2021 it has been calculated in two ways, from the actual price difference or from the cadastral land value with a coefficient, and the lower figure is paid. No tax is due when the property is sold at a loss.
Full guide ↗A municipal tax on building work, renovations and installations that need a licence or notification. In Barcelona the rate is 4% of the works budget, plus the licence fee (tasa). Other municipalities set their own rates and fees.
Full guide ↗ · Primary source: TRLRHL, RDLeg 2/2004The non-resident income tax return. A non-resident who owns Spanish property files it for an empty home (imputed income), for rental income and for a sale. The rate is 19% for EU and EEA residents and 24% for others; gains on a sale are taxed at 19%.
Full guide ↗A buyer purchasing from a non-resident withholds 3% of the price and pays it to the tax agency on Modelo 211. It is an advance on the seller's capital gains tax: if the tax due is lower, the seller reclaims the difference through Modelo 210.
Full guide ↗The three levels of works permit in Barcelona. An assabentat is a simple notice for minor interior work, a comunicat is a prior notification for more substantial work, often with a technician involved, and a llicència d'obres majors is the licence for work affecting the structure, façade, number of homes or use. The type of work sets the level, not its cost.
Full guide ↗When the authority does not reply in time. For new construction and certain other works the law states that silence means refusal (art. 11.4 TRLSRU), so such work cannot start without an express licence. Other procedures have their own rules.
Full guide ↗ · Primary source: TRLSRU, RDLeg 7/2015Changing the authorised use of a property, for example turning a commercial unit into a home. In Barcelona the plan must allow it, the building must not have reached its maximum number of dwellings, the home must meet habitability standards (at least 40 m² usable) and a major works licence is needed. Afterwards the cédula is obtained and the change is declared to the Cadastre.
Full guide ↗How many square metres of floor area (sostre) the plan allows on a plot. In Barcelona it is set by the 1976 Metropolitan General Plan and its amendments and can be checked on the city's planning information portal. It caps a project's revenue and drives the land price.
Full guide ↗An association of owners in an urbanisation that is legally responsible for maintaining its roads, lighting and infrastructure. Membership goes with the property: a new owner joins automatically, so the bylaws, fees and any debts of the seller are checked before buying.
Full guide ↗Spain's coastal law. Private land by the sea carries a protection easement (servidumbre de protección): 100 metres from the inner edge of the shore, or 20 metres on land that was already urban in 1988. New homes are not allowed in that strip, and work on existing houses is restricted.
Full guide ↗ · Primary source: Ley 22/1988 de CostasA municipality where rent increases are capped under Law 12/2023. Barcelona has been on the list since March 2024. The zone sets no ceiling on purchase prices, but in Catalonia it triggers gran tenedor status from five homes and pre-emption on sales by companies.
Full guide ↗ · Primary source: Ley 12/2023A large owner of housing. Under the general rule of Law 12/2023 this means more than 10 residential properties or more than 1,500 m² of residential floor area; in stressed market zones the threshold can drop to five, and in Barcelona it applies from five. Since 27 June 2025 a gran tenedor in Catalonia pays 20% ITP on residential purchases.
Full guide ↗ · Primary source: Ley 12/2023The authority's right to buy a property on the terms already agreed, in place of the buyer. Tanteo applies before the sale, which the seller must notify; retracto applies afterwards if there was no notice or the terms changed. All of Barcelona is a pre-emption area for entire buildings in mainly residential use.
Full guide ↗A Barcelona rule since 2018: on plots where the plan allows more than 600 m² of multi-family floor area, 30% of new-build or major renovation floor area must be protected housing. The threshold is measured on the plot's potential, not on the actual project.
Full guide ↗The discount rate at which the present value of all project cash flows is zero. It is an annual, time-weighted return: the same profit gives a different IRR over one year and over three. IRR does not show the profit in euros, so it is read alongside the equity multiple.
Full guide ↗Project ROE is profit divided by the equity invested, over the whole term and not annualised. The equity multiple (MOIC) shows how many euros come back for each euro invested: 1.3x means the capital plus 30%. Unlike IRR, neither measure accounts for time.
Full guide ↗The order in which project cash reaches each party. Investors first get their capital back plus the preferred return, a minimum return before any profit split; the manager then receives a catch-up; the rest is split in agreed shares, and the manager's share above its own capital is the promote. DNPI uses no waterfall: the investor pays for everything directly and DNPI's fee is half of the profit.
Full guide ↗A contract under which an investor gives money to a manager for a specific operation and shares in its result without forming a company (arts. 239–243 of the Commercial Code). Only the manager acts and is liable towards third parties.
Full guide ↗ · Primary source: Código de ComercioA deal in which a landowner transfers a plot to a developer in exchange for some of the future flats or houses. The land is not paid for in cash, but both sides pay tax on the exchange and carry the risk that the project is not built on time.
Full guide ↗An investor treated as professional under MiFID II and Spain's Law 6/2023: large institutions, or an individual who on request has shown dealing experience and portfolio size. Many closed funds admit only such investors and set their own minimum ticket, for example €500,000; the law sets no such minimum.
Full guide ↗ · Primary source: Ley 6/2023How DNPI Capital works: the investor buys the property in their own name and pays for the purchase, works and costs directly; DNPI never receives or holds the investor's money. DNPI's fee for the work is half of the project profit. If the investor's return after the fee is below 10% for the whole project, DNPI pays the shortfall from its fee under the contract. This is not a guarantee against loss.
Full guide ↗Before your first investment decision
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