Buyer’s Guide
How to buy, country by country
What you would actually own, which taxes apply and which do not, what the purchase costs and how long it takes — written for one country at a time, because the structure and the tax change at every border and almost nothing else about the model does.
The four markets we cover
Between them these four hold 234 of the 268 homes we list. Each guide is built from the listings in that country — the prices and running costs are measured, not estimated — and links through to the tax and legal answers in full.
- How to buy a co-ownership share in Spain — 82 homesThe structure, the NIE, the taxes you do and do not pay, what it costs measured across the 82 Spanish homes we list, and the seven steps in the order they happen.
- How to buy a co-ownership share in France — 22 homesThe SCI, the notaire fees you avoid, how IFI works for residents and non-residents, what it costs across the 22 French homes we list, and the steps in order.
- How to buy a co-ownership share in Italy — 23 homesThe SRL, who actually pays IMU, the codice fiscale, what it costs across the 23 Italian homes we list — the lowest running costs of any country we cover.
- How to buy a co-ownership share in the United States — 107 homesThe property-specific LLC, what the US market does better and worse than Europe, what it costs across the 107 American homes we list, and the steps in order.
What these guides are not
They are not tax advice. They describe how the structure works and which taxes it does and does not trigger, which is a question about the model rather than about you. Your own position depends on where you are resident, what else you own and which treaty applies — take specialist advice before you sign, and every operator will tell you the same.
Before the country, the operator
If you have not settled on who to buy from yet, that comes first — the operators differ on nights a year, on whether you may let the home, on resale and on where they sell at all.