The European Commissioner for Financial Services, Financial Stability and Capital Markets Union, Mairead McGuinness, reported on this in response to a parliamentary question from Spanish MEP from the Balearic Islands Rosa Estaràs, from the Popular Party (PP).

According to a report by idealista/news, the question posed by the MEP was whether it would be possible for Member States to limit the purchase of homes to non-residents, taking into account restrictions on the movement of capital between EU countries.

In the official response, Brussels recalls that Article 63 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU prohibits restrictions on the movement of capital related to the acquisition of real estate, “including housing”, by non-resident citizens.

It stresses, however, that "such restrictions may be justified" for "reasons of public order or public security, or for overriding reasons of general interest recognized in the case law of the CJEU, provided that they are non-discriminatory and are proportionate to the intended objective" .

This means that the measures must be “adequate to guarantee, in a coherent and systematic way, the achievement of the intended objective” and not go “beyond what is necessary to achieve it”, she adds.

Balearic Islands wants to ban home foreign buyers

The Majorcan MEP's question made no mention of this possibility, which has been debated for some months in the Balearic Islands. Recently, the general secretary of the Podemos party and current Minister of Social Rights and Agenda 2030, Ione Belarra, promised to “put pressure” on the socialist part of the Spanish government so that “the islands can legislate the restriction on the purchase of homes from non-residents” .

The vice-president of the Government of the Balearic Islands, Juan Pedro Yllanes, has said on several occasions that the CJEU could accept a “Balearic exception” to allow this measure, taking into account the “special circumstances” existing in the Islands. Yllanes guarantees that the TJUE “does not completely rule out” this type of regulation and that the Balearic Islands “meet the requirements” for this restriction to be allowed.

Is Portugal also considering prohibiting sales to foreigners?

In Portugal the Bloco de Esquerda (BE) presented, at the beginning of the year, a bill to prohibit the sale of real estate to citizens or companies with headquarters or permanent residence abroad, as a way to combat the increase in prices in the real estate market . A measure that does not enter, for now, into the plans of the Government.

The real estate sector also does not welcome such a measure. Rafael Ascenso, CEO of Porta da Frente, said that such a measure “could implode the market”.

“Throughout these 27 years that we have been in the market, we have never seen a populist measure that worked. Our reality is not the same as in Canada, on the contrary, we have lived these last years on much of the income we had through foreign real estate", said the official.