New-Build Payment Schedules in Spain

How much do you pay, and when? On a Spanish new build the answer is almost never "all of it at the end". You pay a reservation to take the unit off the market, a first tranche when you sign the private purchase contract, further tranches as the building progresses, and the balance at the notary. Every one of those payments before completion should be covered by a guarantee.

This matters to almost everyone buying here. 1,900 of the 2,108 properties on our live book are new build. Only 208 are resale. If you are buying on the Costa Blanca in 2026, a staged schedule is the default experience.

The stages, in order

1. Reservation. A modest sum, paid to reserve a specific unit at a specific price for a short window, typically a few weeks, while your lawyer runs checks. It should be documented, and the document should say what happens to the money if the checks fail.

2. Private purchase contract. Your lawyer reviews it, you sign, and you pay the first substantial instalment. This is the document that fixes the price, the unit, the specification and the delivery date. Everything you were told verbally either appears here or does not exist.

3. Stage payments. Further instalments tied to build milestones or to fixed dates, set out in the contract. Some developers spread them evenly, others weight them towards structure completion. Either is normal; what matters is that the schedule is written down and guaranteed.

4. Completion at the notary. The balance, the taxes, the notary and registry fees, and your keys. This is also when the title deed is signed and registered in your name.

The guarantee: aval bancario or insurance policy

This is the single most important protection in an off-plan purchase, and the one buyers most often skip.

Spanish law requires a developer taking money from buyers before a building is finished to secure those amounts, either through a bank guarantee, commonly called an aval bancario, or through an insurance policy that does the same job. The money must go into a dedicated account used solely for that development, not the developer's general trading account.

If the scheme does not complete, or misses the delivery date agreed in your contract, you can call on that guarantee to recover what you have paid. Without it you are an unsecured creditor of a construction company, which is a materially worse place to be.

Practical rule: do not transfer a stage payment until you are holding the guarantee document that covers it. Not a promise it is coming. The document. Your lawyer should confirm that the guaranteed amount matches what you are about to send, and that the beneficiary is you.

What the tax actually adds

New build is a first transmission, so it is taxed under IVA rather than transfer tax. In the Valencia region that means 10% IVA on the purchase price plus 1.5% AJD stamp duty on the deed: 11.5% in total. Here is what that looks like against the median price of four brackets on our live book.

Those four prices are the medians of the €150k–€200k (68 listings), €200k–€250k (104), €250k–€300k (156) and €400k–€600k (529) brackets respectively. On the €300k–€400k bracket median of €349,900, the same calculation gives €34,990 IVA and €5,249 AJD, or €40,239.

Two caveats. First, those rates are the Valencia region's, which covers the Costa Blanca. Andalusia, which covers Málaga province, sets its own AJD rate, so if you are buying in Málaga or Benalmádena ask us for the current figure rather than assuming. Second, tax is not the whole cost: notary, land registry, your lawyer and, if you are borrowing, mortgage set-up costs sit on top.

Budgeting the deposit, not just the price

The mistake we see most often is a buyer who budgets to the asking price and then discovers the tax. On a €483,000 purchase the tax alone is €55,545, and it is due at the notary, in cash, on the day. Spanish mortgages do not generally cover purchase costs.

Plan backwards from completion: the balance, plus 11.5% tax, plus fees, all liquid and in a Spanish account on the day. Currency transfers of that size take time and move on the rate, which is worth thinking about a month ahead rather than a week.

Questions to put to the developer in writing

• What is the exact payment schedule, and is each stage tied to a date or a build milestone?
• Which bank issues the guarantee, and can I see the policy or aval covering my instalments?
• What is the contractual delivery date, and what is the penalty if it slips?
• Is the specification sheet contractual, or indicative?
• Which parts of the price are excluded: parking, storage, white goods, air-conditioning units?
• Who pays the plusvalía and the new-build declaration costs?

A developer who answers all six clearly and in writing is a developer you can work with. One who gets vague around the guarantee is telling you something important.

Next steps

If you are weighing a specific scheme, we will read the schedule with you before you sign anything. Browse new-build homes on the Costa Blanca, or look at Algorfa and Benijófar, two of the towns where staged developer purchases dominate. For the wider picture, read key-ready versus off-plan and buying off-plan in Spain.

Tell us your budget below and we will send you the full cost breakdown for the scheme you are considering: price, tax, fees and schedule, on one page.