If you know someone who owns a holiday home, there’s a very good chance it’s going to be in the UK – or Spain.
Between the two countries, Britons own up to 3.4m second homes – around 2.4 million in the UK (which includes investment properties such as buy-to-lets) and up to a million estimated in Spain. Of course, a few people have holiday homes in both!
But if you seek somewhere to escape to for weekends or even whole weeks of the year, and you had to choose one – would it be Tenby or Tenerife, Denia or Dorset?
Until a year ago, the most obvious factor when comparing a cottage in the UK with a villa in Spain was, of course, the weather. But as we experience a record-breaking hot British summer, the ‘staycay’ is back in vogue because ‘a place in the sun’ can be found close to home.
Access is, of course, also another factor. You won’t be able to get to Spain within a couple of hours, so if you love the idea of escaping for impromptu weekends, it’s not the obvious option, though not impossible.
Don’t like flying or object to it for environmental concerns? Want to take the dog? Can’t stomach the new EES border rules? All reasons to stick to the UK.
But affordability is another big factor that favours Spain. The average foreign buyer spends €216,602 on a property in Alicante province (the Costa Blanca), according to the Notaries, which is £185,000. The average property in England is just under £300k, according to UK government data.
But what are all the financials you need to consider?
Is property cheaper in Spain than the UK?
SPAIN has the edge
Houses are more affordable in Spain – broadly – for sure. When buying a holiday home, most people like to be near the coast, where prices in both locations command a premium.
Without doubt, you’d struggle to find a property on the English coast for £100k, which is why so many people head to Spain, where there are hundreds of apartments and townhouses on urbanisations for such a budget.
Even in Tenby on the Welsh coast – often cited as one of the places with the highest ratios of second homes – the average home costs around £300,000 (and that’s before the extra stamp duty, see below).
Most people have one eye on capital growth, even if it’s not the main motivation for buying, and the fact is that whilst prices in British coastal resorts are static or falling in many places, prices are rising on the Costa del Sol and in many parts of the Costa Blanca.
In Cornwall’s Falmouth and Newquay, prices are down by 7% and 6% respectively over the last year, and 2026 is not looking like it will be any better. In Worthing, prices fell by 1.7%, with a similar dip in Bournemouth.
In the Costa Blanca, the average property rose by 14-16% during that time, according to Idealista. In Malaga, it was 6-12%.
There are other factors that investors will consider, such as buying costs and overheads, but even for buyers looking for a holiday home that will hold its value, Spain seems like a better bet right now.
Is it cheaper to buy a second home in the UK or Spain?
UK has the edge
Buying a second (or additional) home in England or Wales now entails surcharges on top of already hefty stamp duty costs. In England, this means an extra 5%, so if you buy a property for between £125,001 and £250,000, it’s 7% (2% standard + 5% surcharge).
So, on an English home costing £250,000, the stamp duty would total £15,000 (6%).
In Scotland, there is Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (LBTT) plus the 8% Additional Dwelling Supplement (ADS); in Wales, second homes are liable for higher Land Transaction Tax (LTT), with a home worth £180,001 to £250,000 attracting 8.5%.
There are also conveyancing costs to add in all cases: £900 to £3,500, depending on the value of the house and type of transaction.
In Spain, acquisition costs are 10-14% and depend on the autonomous region because transfer tax (like UK stamp duty) is set by the regional governments and is between 6.5%-10%.
So, the cost of buying a second home in the UK could still be less than it is in Spain.
Is it cheaper to own a second home in Spain or the UK?
SPAIN has the edge
The method of taxation for property owners is being re-appraised by the new UK government (will stamp duty or council tax be replaced?), but taxes rarely go down for most people.
As things stand, since 2025 second homeowners pay extra council tax in some areas of England – in fact, around 210 of the 295 English local authorities – including Cornwall Council, North Yorkshire and Northumberland County Council. This can be up to a 100% premium – although those owners who commercially let their second home can pay business rates instead of council tax (generally much lower).
For a Band H property in Cornwall, that is over £9,000 per year; for an average (Band D) property, this is around £5,000 per year.
In Wales, premiums of up to 300% can be levied, depending on locality, with the highest at 200% in Bridgend.
Spanish annual taxes will generally be a lot lower, with €800 a year in sewage/rubbish taxes reasonable for a villa in the south of Spain.
You will, of course, need to budget for Spanish community fees if your property is on a managed development, but this might be €50-100 per month – against which you might need to balance pay-as-you-go costs for gardening or upkeep for a stand-alone property (UK or Spain). But the tax burden of owning a Spanish home seems to be much lower than that of a UK home.
Other things to consider are utility bills, capital gains tax and local rules on holiday lets if you need to cover the costs of owning a second home, but as things stand, it’s 3-2 to Spain in the second-home affordability stakes.
UK or Spain: where should you buy a second home?
Whether you fancy a holiday home closer to home or a place in the Spanish sunshine, take a look at what your budget could buy.
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