Spain carries the property
The Spanish bank finances the property itself with lending of up to 70 % — calculated on the lower of purchase price and tasación. The security sits where the property stands.
Structure · two countries
70 % from Spain, the remainder from Germany
Most buyers are offered exactly two answers: everything through the Spanish bank — which leaves 30 % plus purchase costs uncovered. Or everything through Germany — which leaves a great deal of lending capacity unused. Almost nobody asks about the combination.
Can I combine a Spanish mortgage with lending against my German property?
Yes. The Spanish bank finances the property itself with lending of up to 70 % of the lower of purchase price and tasación. The shortfall and the purchase costs run against your German property, with lending of up to 80 % of its mortgage lending value. Together the two pillars cover purchase price and costs on paper. The German property does not need to be unencumbered. Where a mortgage is still running, the new lending ranks behind it; prior charge and new loan together must stay within the limit. The top-up belongs in Germany on purpose, because German terms sit below Spanish ones at comparable fixed periods. The usual alternative — a German bank lends and secures against the Spanish property — delivers less volume and costs more, because a foreign property attracts an additional safety deduction. Whether the combination carries is decided by the affordability of both loans together.
How the structure is built
Germany carries the rest
The shortfall and the purchase costs run against your German property, with lending of up to 80 % of its mortgage lending value. That closes the gap without you liquidating savings.
An existing loan is no obstacle
The German property need not be unencumbered. Where a mortgage is still running, the new lending ranks behind it — prior charge and new loan together must stay within the 80 % limit.
The German part is the cheaper one
At comparable fixed periods, German terms sit below Spanish ones. Taking the top-up in Germany is therefore not a fallback — it is the cheaper side of the calculation.
Why the usual route delivers less
There is a fourth route, widely offered in the market: a German bank lends, and the security is registered against the Spanish property. It sounds convenient — German contracts, German contacts — but it carries two drawbacks that are rarely shown alongside it.
First, the amount. Securing a Spanish property from Germany produces lending well below what the Spanish bank will advance against the same property. The reason is method, not mistrust: German lenders apply an additional safety deduction to a foreign property before applying their regular lending limit to it. Two deductions in sequence produce a figure that appears in the brochure as a fixed rule but in fact reflects the arithmetic of a single lender.
Second, the price. Foreign security costs a German bank more than a property in its own market. The combination reverses that: the Spanish property is secured where it is valued normally, and the German property carries the top-up — precisely the security a German bank prices most keenly.
The result is usually more volume at a lower blended rate. Whether that holds in your case depends on valuation, credit profile and term — we calculate the routes against each other rather than selling one of them.
- Sequence. Both approvals belong before you sign the preliminary contract, not after.
- Timeline. The German and Spanish tracks run in parallel. Starting them one after the other costs weeks for no gain.
- Two permissions. This structure needs both sides: § 34i GewO for Germany (intermediary register D-W-132-ZUCB-95) and the BAFA notification for Spain and Portugal.
- This is not an approval. All figures are orientation from our brokerage practice — not a commitment and not a guaranteed condition. Whether a case works depends on the property, the valuation and your standing: subject to credit assessment, case by case, no legal entitlement.
Free guide
German property as security, purchase in Spain — the guide as a PDF
How the structure works, what breaks it, which documents the lender wants to see and in which order to proceed. Free, by email, no upfront cost.
What is inside:
- Loan-to-value · up to 80 % of the German lending value
- Security · land charge in Germany — the Spanish property stays unencumbered
- Pitfall · proving residential use of funds
- The bracket · both legs, one point of contact
All figures are orientation from our brokerage practice — not a commitment and not a guaranteed condition. Whether a case works depends on the property, the valuation and your standing: subject to credit assessment, case by case, no legal entitlement.
Frequently asked questions
Why not finance everything against the German property?
You can — it is a structure in its own right, with the advantage that you appear in Spain as a cash buyer. But it consumes lending capacity you may need later. The combination preserves that capacity, because the Spanish property carries the larger share itself.
My German property is not paid off yet.
That rules nothing out. The new lending ranks behind the existing mortgage; what matters is that prior charge and new loan together stay within the lending limit. Not every lender accepts prior charges — establishing which ones do is part of the groundwork.
Does this give me 100 % of the purchase price?
Arithmetically, purchase price and costs can be covered across both pillars. Whether it works in your case is decided by affordability: both loans together must be serviceable, and the Spanish bank counts the German instalment in its calculation.
Do I have to submit everything twice, to two banks?
The documents overlap almost entirely; the requirements do not. We assemble both tracks from one set and submit them in parallel — which is why the combination rarely works as two separate applications made individually.
Both pillars from one desk
Send us the key figures of the planned purchase and of your German property. We calculate the combination against both single routes — before you commit.
Have the combination assessedRelated: German property as security · Release capital from a Spanish property · all structures