Morocco vs Spain vs Portugal: where should you buy a holiday home?

Key facts

• House prices rose 12.2% in Spain and 16.5% in Portugal in the year to Q2 2026; Portugal's rise was the fastest in the EU (INE Spain; INE Portugal; Eurostat).
• Morocco's official residential price index rose 1.0% in the year to Q2 2026, and villa prices slipped 0.3% (Bank Al-Maghrib/ANCFCC).
• Moroccans were the fourth-largest group of foreign homebuyers in Spain in Q2 2026, with 6.09% of foreign purchases, almost level with Germans (Colegio de Registradores).
• Spain closed its golden visa to new applicants on 3 April 2025, Portugal ended its property routes on 7 October 2023, and Morocco's residence law offers no property-based route (Government of Spain; SRS Legal; Law 02-03).
• Since 1 July 2025, every holiday let advertised online in Spain needs a national registration number; about half of the first 68,594 applications were rejected or revoked (Europa Press).
• Global Property Guide estimates average gross rental yields at 7.31% in Morocco (Q1 2026), 5.45% in Spain (Q1 2026) and 4.29% in Portugal (Q2 2026) (Global Property Guide).

How do property prices compare in Morocco, Spain and Portugal?

Outside prime districts, Morocco costs roughly 40-50% less per m² than the Spanish and Portuguese averages, and its prices are flat while theirs rise by double digits. The sources measure different things, so compare orders of magnitude.

Spain

• €2,487/m² average registered price in Q2 2026, a record (Colegio de Registradores), and +12.2% in a year (INE)
• Holiday coasts, Q2 2026 appraisals (Tinsa): Marbella €3,694/m², Málaga province €2,703 and Alicante province €1,981, each up 15-21% in a year

Portugal

• €2,337/m² median price of homes sold in Q1 2026; Algarve €3,240 over the 12 months to Q1 (INE)
• +16.5% in the year to Q2 2026, against an EU average of 4.7% (INE, Eurostat)

Morocco

• MAD 14,042/m² average asking price for apartments in 2025 and MAD 14,602 for villas, roughly €1,300-1,350 (Mubawab); prime Marrakech €5,500-7,000/m² (Knight Frank, via Bladi.net)
• +1.0% for homes and -0.3% for villas in the year to Q2 2026 (Bank Al-Maghrib/ANCFCC)

Sales tell a different story: down 2.3% in Spain and 6.4% in Portugal, but up 3.9% for Moroccan homes, year on year in Q2 2026 (Registradores, INE, Bank Al-Maghrib/ANCFCC). Flat prices cut both ways: a buyer in Morocco is not paying for a run-up, but should not plan on one either.

What does it cost to buy in each country?

Morocco's purchase costs are the lowest of the three for most buyers. Headline rates in 2026:

• Spain: resale transfer tax (ITP) of usually 4-13% by region (PwC), such as 7% in Andalusia and 10-13% in Catalonia; new builds pay 10% VAT plus 0.5-1.5% stamp duty. Taxes and fees together usually reach 10-15% (TaxDown).
• Portugal: transfer tax (IMT) of up to 7.5% plus 0.8% stamp duty. PwC lists a flat 7.5% IMT for non-resident home buyers unless they become tax resident within two years or let long term; we could not confirm when this rule took effect.
• Morocco: about 7% plus any agency commission: registration duty 4%, land registry 1.5% and notaire about 1.2% (ReaConsult). Since 1 July 2026, an extra 2% duty applies to sales above MAD 300,000 where the price was not paid by cheque or bank transfer (2026 tax code). See our buying costs guide.

How are non-resident owners taxed on rent and gains?

Each country taxes rent and gains where the property sits, and tax treaties usually prevent double taxation. Headline non-resident rates in 2026:

• Spain: rent taxed at 19% for EU/EEA residents and 24% for others; an unlet home is still taxed on deemed income of 1.1-2% of its cadastral value. Gains are taxed at 19%, and the buyer withholds 3% of the price (Agencia Tributaria).
• Portugal: rent generally taxed at a flat 25%. Since 2023, non-residents are taxed on half of any gain at progressive rates (Garrigues).
• Morocco: unfurnished rent is taxed on the progressive scale (top rate 37%) after a flat 40% allowance, under the 2026 tax code; furnished holiday lets may be treated as business income, and older guides quote a flat 10-15%. Gains are taxed at 20% of the inflation-indexed gain, with a minimum of 3% of the sale price.

Rules change often, and this is general information, not tax advice: confirm your position with a notaire and a tax adviser in both countries. See our property tax guide.

Where are holiday-let rules tightening?

Spain has tightened most since 2025, Portugal reversed its 2023 freeze, and Morocco's licensing framework is unfinished.

• Spain: since 1 July 2025, every online holiday let needs a national registration number, and since 3 April 2025 a new tourist flat needs approval from three-fifths of the building's owners (OCU). Barcelona plans to end about 10,000 licences by November 2028 (Catalan News); Málaga announced a freeze of up to three years on new registrations in August 2025 (Hosteltur).
• Portugal: Decree-Law 76/2024 lifted the freeze on new Alojamento Local (holiday-let) registrations from 1 November 2024, but municipalities can suspend them in pressured areas (Cuatrecasas) and raise property tax by up to 100% on holiday lets there (PwC).
• Morocco: Law 80-14 requires alternative tourist accommodation to hold an authorisation and declare guests to the police daily, but the specification needed to apply for a short-term licence had not been issued by May 2026 (Le360). A decree on short-term rental buildings was announced in January 2026. See our short-term rental guide.

Golden visas, residency and Spain's proposed 100% tax

None of the three now grants residency for buying a home. Spain closed its golden visa (€500,000 in property) to new applicants on 3 April 2025; Portugal ended its property routes on 7 October 2023 but kept investment-fund routes. Morocco has no residence-by-investment scheme. UK, EU and US citizens can stay 90 days without a visa; longer stays need a police residence card (GOV.UK; Wikipedia). See our residency guide.

A Spanish tax of up to 100% on homes bought by non-EU non-residents, proposed by Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez in January 2025, is not law: Reuters reported in March 2026 that it had stalled in Congress.

Rental yields, flights, climate and living costs

Morocco has higher gross yields and much lower living costs; flight times depend on the city.

• Gross yields (Global Property Guide estimates): Morocco 7.31%, Spain 5.45%, Portugal 4.29% (Q1-Q2 2026). Numbeo puts Morocco nearer 4.8%, so treat the top end with caution.
• Flights (KAYAK nonstop averages): from London, Amsterdam and Brussels, Tangier takes 3h04-3h10, against 2h56-3h08 for Málaga and Faro. Marrakech takes 3h43-3h50, and Agadir about four hours from London and Brussels.
• Winter: average January highs are 21.2°C in Agadir, 19.1°C in Marrakech, 17.2°C in Málaga and 16.3°C in Faro (1991-2020 normals).
• Living costs: Numbeo's cost-of-living index puts Morocco at 31.2, Portugal at 48.7 and Spain at 51.4, where New York is 100 (mid-2026).

Morocco's trade-offs, stated plainly

Morocco's lower prices come with more homework.

• Title: buy only property with a registered Titre Foncier; untitled melkia property should not be bought before it is registered. See Titre Foncier vs melkia.
• Currency: the dirham is not freely convertible and moves within a ±5% band (about 10.8 per euro in autumn 2026). Funding the purchase in foreign currency is what guarantees the right to repatriate the sale price and gain (Office des Changes). See repatriating funds.
• Land: foreigners generally cannot own agricultural land (GOV.UK).
• Resale: villa sales fell 7.1% year on year in Q2 2026, and the official index could not compute a Tangier villa price that quarter for lack of sales.

Our reading: Spain and Portugal suit buyers who want a euro asset and a liquid resale market, and who accept higher prices and rental limits. Morocco suits buyers who want more space or winter sun per euro and mainly plan to use the home, provided they buy titled property and move the money correctly.

Sources

• Instituto Nacional de Estadística (INE): Housing Price Index (HPI), second quarter 2026
• Colegio de Registradores de España: Estadística Registral Inmobiliaria, 2T 2026
• Bank Al-Maghrib / ANCFCC: Indice des prix des actifs immobiliers, 2ème trimestre 2026 (n° 67)
• Observador (INE data): Preços das casas abrandam para subida de 16,5% no segundo trimestre, com menos 6,4% de transações
• Government of Spain: Abolition of the investor visa in Spain and its implications
• Agencia Tributaria: Rentas imputadas de bienes inmuebles urbanos (non-resident taxation manual)
• PwC Worldwide Tax Summaries: Portugal: Corporate, other taxes
• Reuters via Global Banking & Finance Review: Spain's 100% non-EU property tax stalls in congress
• Office des Changes: Revenus, cession, liquidation et dévolution successorale au titre des investissements étrangers
• Numbeo: Cost of living index by country, 2026 mid-year