Short answer: yes, Spanish banks lend to non-residents for a home in Mijas, but they lend less than to residents. Plan on 60–70% of the price (residents can reach 80%), a loan of 20–25 years (a few lenders go to 30) and a lot of paperwork. The rest of the price, plus about 9–10% in taxes and fees on a resale home, comes out of your own funds.
This guide covers the numbers a bank looks at, the rates you will be quoted, the documents you need, the order in which things happen and what changes if you buy a new-build home, which is common on the Mijas coast.
1. How much will the bank lend?
Three limits decide it, and the lowest one wins:
- Loan-to-value (LTV). For non-residents, banks commonly offer 60–70%, with the top of the range for strong, well-documented euro incomes and the bottom for non-EU buyers or complicated profiles (a few banks go as low as 50%). Residents buying a main home can reach 70–80%.
- The lower of price and valuation. The percentage is applied to the lower of the price you agreed and the bank's own valuation (tasación). If the valuer puts a townhouse you are buying at €500,000 at €470,000, the loan is calculated on €470,000 and you cover the difference in cash.
- Debt-to-income. Banks usually want all your monthly debt payments, including the new mortgage, to stay at or under about 35% of your net income (some stretch to 40% for high earners). Debts in your home country count.
Two more filters: the loan normally has to be fully repaid before you reach 70–75 (a few lenders accept up to 80), and lenders look at the currency of your income. A salary in euros is straightforward; one in sterling or dollars exposes you to exchange-rate swings on a euro repayment, and some banks will not lend against it at all.
2. Rates: what to expect in October 2026
The 12-month Euribor, the index behind variable mortgages, averaged 3.247% in September 2026 (Banco de España) and was about 3.26% in late October, well above the roughly 2.2% of a year earlier. The figures below are indicative ranges from brokers and comparison sites, not offers (only a few banks, such as CaixaBank, publish rates for non-residents):
| Type | Typical for non-residents |
|---|---|
| Fixed | roughly 3.5–4.2%, depending on bank, LTV and profile |
| Variable | 12-month Euribor + about 1–2 points, so roughly 4.2–5.3% today |
| Mixed | fixed for the first years, then variable |
Treat the headline rate with care. Advertised rates often assume you take the bank's insurance or route income through it, which is harder for a non-resident. Ask for the TIN and the TAE (APR) with and without linked products, and compare the Ficha Europea de Información Normalizada (FEIN) from several banks, not the web page.
Variable rates are reviewed every 6 or 12 months, so a rise in the Euribor reaches your payment at the next review.
3. The documents
Each bank has its own list, but expect to provide:
- Passport and NIE. Our relocation guide explains how to get one.
- Proof of income: employment contract and the last three payslips, or accounts and tax returns if you are self-employed, plus your latest tax return and a tax residence certificate.
- Bank statements for the past year, a list of your assets and debts, and a credit report.
- Proof of where the deposit comes from. Banks are bound by Spain's anti-money-laundering law (Ley 10/2010) to understand where the money comes from and, depending on risk, to ask for supporting documents, so keep the trail clear: savings, a sale, a gift (with a letter, if the bank accepts it).
- The property: reservation or purchase contract and a nota simple from the Land Registry.
- A Spanish bank account. Most lenders insist on one for the direct debit.
Documents that are not in Spanish often need a sworn translation, and some a legalisation or apostille, at your cost; a few lenders, such as CaixaBank's HolaBank service, accept documents in English without translation. Ask before paying for translations, and start early: missing translations are the most common cause of delay.
4. Who pays what
Since the 2019 mortgage law (Ley 5/2019), costs of the mortgage deed are split like this:
| Item | Who pays |
|---|---|
| Valuation (tasación) | You |
| Notary fee for the mortgage deed | Bank |
| Land registry entry of the mortgage | Bank |
| Gestoría (filing and registration) | Bank |
| Stamp duty (AJD) on the mortgage deed | Bank |
| Copies of the deed you request | Whoever requests them |
| Opening fee, if the contract has one (charged once, covering the bank's study and processing costs, so it is negotiable) | You |
Do not confuse these with the costs of the purchase itself, which you normally bear: on a resale home in Andalucía the 7% general-rate transfer tax (ITP), the notary and registry fees for the sale deed and the lawyer. The step-by-step buying guide covers them.
Paying off early. The law caps the fee. On a variable-rate mortgage it can be at most 0.25% of the amount repaid in the first 3 years or 0.15% in the first 5 years (the contract fixes which one). On a fixed-rate mortgage, up to 2% in the first 10 years and 1.5% after that. On a mixed mortgage each stretch follows its own rule. In every case it cannot exceed the bank's real financial loss.
5. Step by step
- Pre-approval. Send your documents to one or more banks (or a registered real-estate credit intermediary, who compares several). You get a first answer on how much you could borrow.
- Reservation contract. Before you sign it, ask your lawyer to make the purchase conditional on the mortgage being granted. Without that clause, if the bank refuses the mortgage you will normally not get your payment back: with penitential deposit (arras, art. 1454 Civil Code) you lose it, and with confirmatory arras the seller can demand that you complete or claim damages. Have your lawyer check which type your contract has.
- Valuation. The bank orders it, and you pay for it.
- Binding offer (FEIN). From the day you receive it there must be at least 10 calendar days before you sign. The law requires this minimum period so you can compare and understand the terms; it does not give you a right to withdraw after signing.
- Notary's transparency record. You visit the notary, who checks that you received the paperwork on time and explains the clauses. This must happen at the latest the day before the signing, and costs nothing.
- Deed. The mortgage and the purchase are normally signed on the same day, at the same notary.
Worked example: a €500,000 townhouse near La Cala
A townhouse of about 125 m² in Riviera del Sol or La Cala Golf, where the Fotocasa index showed roughly €3,900/m² in September 2026, comes to about €500,000. Say you buy it as a holiday home (general ITP rate of 7%) and the valuation agrees with the price. The extras on top of the price add up to about €45,000 (9%): ITP €35,000, notary, registry and gestoría roughly €3,000–4,000, a lawyer at about 1% plus VAT (€6,050) and the valuation (around €500).
What changes with the percentage the bank is willing to lend, over 25 years at 4%:
| LTV | Mortgage | Your deposit | Cash needed with costs | Monthly payment | Net income needed* |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 60% | €300,000 | €200,000 | ≈ €245,000 | €1,584 | ≈ €4,520 |
| 65% | €325,000 | €175,000 | ≈ €220,000 | €1,715 | ≈ €4,900 |
| 70% | €350,000 | €150,000 | ≈ €195,000 | €1,847 | ≈ €5,280 |
*If the mortgage were your only debt and the bank's limit is 35% of net income. At 3.5% the 65% loan costs €1,627 a month; at 5%, €1,900. If the bank caps the term at 20 years, the 65% loan at 4% is €1,969 a month (≈ €5,630 net income).
The lesson: a few points of LTV move your deposit by tens of thousands of euros, and the income test often bites before the LTV does. Ask each bank for both numbers before you fall in love with a house.
Buying a new build
Many homes on the Mijas coast are sold off plan or under construction, and the financing works differently:
- Taxes. No ITP. You pay 10% VAT plus 1.2% stamp duty (AJD) in Andalucía, roughly 11.2% against the general 7% ITP on resale. New-build prices are often quoted before VAT, so ask which one you are looking at.
- You fund the construction stage yourself. You usually pay a reservation and instalments during the build, and the mortgage is usually signed at delivery. A non-resident therefore needs the deposit, and often more than the deposit, in cash while the building goes up.
- Your advance payments are protected by law. The developer must guarantee the money you pay on account with a bank guarantee or insurance and keep it in a dedicated account (Ley 38/1999). Ask for the guarantee in your name before you pay.
- Developer loan. If the developer financed the project with a bank loan, you can take over (subrogate) the share that corresponds to your home, provided the bank approves it (it may charge a subrogation fee if the contract provides one), or sign a new mortgage elsewhere. The developer cannot force you to subrogate or penalise you if you do not, and it cannot pass on to you the costs of the new-build and horizontal-property deeds or of cancelling its own mortgage. Compare both: the terms of the developer's loan are not necessarily the best available to you, and the loan-to-value rules for a non-resident still apply.
Alternatives
Some buyers raise the money in their home country instead, for example by remortgaging a property there. It can mean a lower rate and no sworn translations, but your home becomes the guarantee for a Spanish purchase. Weigh that, and the exchange-rate risk, with an adviser in the country where you live.
Before you apply
Work out your budget backwards: your maximum payment, the loan it supports and then the deposit and the costs on top. Leave a margin: CaixaBank quotes 12–15% on top of the price for non-residents once extras such as sworn translations and powers of attorney are included. Then compare zones in our area guides and read what to check before investing in Mijas, including the rules for holiday rentals if you plan to let the property.
Rates and bank policies change every week; the figures are indicative and were reviewed in October 2026. Whether you can deduct the interest from your own taxes depends on where you live and whether you let the home. This article is general information, not financial or tax advice: ask each bank for its FEIN and talk to a local advisor and a lawyer before signing.
