Spanish Mortgage for French Buyers: France is next door, your French rate is not
French buyers are among the largest groups of foreign purchasers in Spain, and they arrive with a fair assumption: French mortgage rates are among the lowest in Europe, and the Costa Brava is a morning's drive away — so why not simply borrow in France? Because the loan stops at the border, even when the buyer does not.
In short
Who finances a Spanish purchase for buyers from France?
Perini, an independent broker (§34i GewO). France is next door, but your French bank cannot lend against a Spanish house — the mortgage is arranged in Spain, typically up to 70% of the lower of price and valuation.
Why not just borrow at the low French rate?
The rate is inseparable from French collateral. A Spanish home sits under a different land registry and enforcement system, so the security your French lender relies on is not there.
Buy property Spain: what does a Spanish lender check?
Declared income from your French tax return, any existing French mortgage in your debt-service ratio, the valuation rather than the asking price, and a loan repaid by around age 75.
Can I finance a Spanish property with my French mortgage?
No. A French bank prices its low rate on French collateral it can enforce; a Spanish property sits under a different land registry and enforcement system, so that security — and the rate that depends on it — does not cross the border. The French assurance emprunteur does not travel either: a Spanish non-resident mortgage carries no obligatory bundled loan insurance. The clean structure keeps each country to what it does well. If you wish, your French bank releases capital against a property you already own in France, which lowers the amount needed in Spain; on the Spanish side we arrange the mortgage against the Spanish property itself, typically financing up to 70 % of the lower of purchase price and valuation, with your French tax returns as the income basis. Proximity helps — French buyers cluster on the Costa Brava, Costa Dorada and Costa Blanca, markets we work in daily.
Why the low French rate does not cross the Pyrenees
A French bank prices its loan on the assumption that it can seize a French property if things go wrong. A house in Rosas, Sitges or on the Costa Blanca sits under a different land registry and a different enforcement system, so the security your French lender relies on is simply not there. The attractive French rate is inseparable from French collateral — take away the collateral and the offer disappears with it.
There is a second French habit that does not travel: the assurance emprunteur. In France a mortgage almost always comes bundled with obligatory loan insurance. A Spanish non-resident mortgage is not built that way; cover, if any, is optional and priced separately. Buyers who plan around the French model are usually surprised on both counts.
Buy the Spanish side in Spain, keep the French side in France
The clean structure keeps each country to what it does well. Your French bank, if you wish, releases capital against a property you already own in France — that lowers the amount you need in Spain and strengthens the whole file. On the Spanish side we arrange the mortgage against the Spanish property itself, typically up to 70 % of the lower of purchase price and valuation, with your French tax returns as the basis for income.
Proximity actually helps here: French buyers cluster on the Costa Brava and Costa Dorada near the Catalan coast and down the Costa Blanca, markets we work in daily, and a second viewing or a notary appointment is rarely a logistical problem.
Release capital from a Spanish propertyFinancing a new build in Spain
The details that catch French buyers
- Your French mortgage counts against you. Even a low, long-standing French loan is charged to your debt-service ratio in Spain. A comfortable position in Lyon can read as tight in Madrid.
- Declared income only. Spanish banks read from tax returns. Revenue that never reached a French return does not exist for them.
- Valuation, not asking price. The lender finances the lower of price and tasación; on the coast, valuations often land below the headline number.
- Repayment by around age 75. The term, not the rate, drives the instalment once you are past your late fifties.
Guides for other nationalities
Ireland
EU and euro — two fewer obstacles than most.
Netherlands & Belgium
Why your home bank will not finance a Spanish purchase.
Scandinavia
Paying cash vs. a Spanish mortgage — the real comparison.
United Kingdom
What Brexit changed — paperwork and timing, not the loan.
United States
How US dollar income is actually assessed.
Let us look at your case
A first conversation costs nothing, and our fee — 1 % of the loan actually arranged — is only ever due if the financing completes.