The numbers
What a house really costs to buy
Sixteen jurisdictions, one ten-million house, and a door that costs anything from sixty thousand to nearly two million. The acquisition cost, line by line.
Take the same ten-million house and walk into it in sixteen places. In Zürich the door costs sixty thousand. In the Balearics it costs one and a quarter million. In London, for a non-resident buying a second home, it costs close to two. The house is identical; the jurisdiction is the price.
The five lines
One house, sixteen doors
The acquisition instrument runs the full model. For a ten-million resale bought by a non-resident individual, the all-in cost of the door, as the desk currently estimates it, ranks roughly as follows.
Cost of acquisition on a ten-million resale, per cent of price
Two things are visible at once. The German-speaking markets and the Spanish islands are expensive to enter and cheap or free to leave, because the exit is untaxed after a holding period. The American markets and Switzerland are cheap to enter and taxed on the way out. England is expensive both ways and cheap in between. A buyer who intends to hold for fifteen years cares about the door far less than one who intends to hold for five.
The bands that bite
New build changes the line
In Spain a house bought from a developer pays VAT at ten per cent plus stamp duty instead of transfer tax, which in the Balearics is a saving above two million and in Andalusia is not. In Italy a developer sale carries VAT at ten per cent, or twenty-two for the luxury cadastral categories that most villas fall into, which is why resale is the normal route there. In New York a sponsor sale shifts the state and city transfer taxes to the buyer, another two per cent. In France a new build halves the duties. The instrument has a switch for it.
The company question
Buying through a company changes the door in some places and the years in others. Monaco charges 7.5 per cent rather than 4.5 for an opaque company. England charges a flat fifteen per cent stamp duty and then an annual charge for a company holding a home. Spain and France are indifferent at the door and interested at succession. The instrument shows the difference at the door; the rest is advice.
Run the numbers
Acquisition Costs
What a house really costs to walk into, in sixteen jurisdictions, line by line.
Run the instrument with the jurisdiction, the price and the switches, then read the completion statement against it on the day. The difference should be a question for the lawyer, not a surprise for the bank.
