There’s a café outside the Museo de las Ciencias in Valencia. If you’ve never been, picture this: vast futuristic white architecture rising out of a long reflecting pool, the kind of place that makes you feel like you’re in a film. I was sitting there in the sunshine with a friend and my son, who was doing what toddlers do, when I took a video call that I hoped might change everything.
It was our second trip to Valencia in six months. What had started as a holiday was building momentum at a pace I hadn’t quite anticipated — but when I see potential, I tend to go into overdrive. That’s a strength and a weakness in equal measure. I’d been scrolling Idealista, had started speaking to an English-speaking agent, and had fallen in love with the city. The idea of investing here felt increasingly real. A mortgage felt like the obvious next step.
It wasn’t.
Why Spanish mortgages are harder than you think for UK buyers
Spain has a well-developed mortgage market, and non-residents can absolutely get Spanish mortgages. But the criteria are strict, and for UK buyers in particular, there are several hurdles that catch people out.
How banks assess affordability
Spanish lenders look at your debt-to-income ratio very carefully. They calculate what you owe each month — including your existing UK mortgage — against what you earn, and they want to see a significant margin of comfort. If you already have a mortgage on a UK property, that counts against you from the start.
Crucially, a married couple is assessed as a single financial unit. That sounds logical, but it means that a high-earning partner with an existing mortgage can actually make your application harder, not easier, because their liabilities come into the calculation alongside their income.
What income counts — and what doesn’t
Spanish banks want to see full-time employment of at least two years. If one partner is not working — as was my situation, with full-time childcare at home — that income gap is hard to bridge on paper, even if the household is financially comfortable in practice. Bonuses typically aren’t counted in affordability calculations at all, and rental income may not be weighted as heavily as you’d hope.
Buying through an SL adds another layer
At this stage we weren’t certain about the company structure. In the UK we’d bought property personally, and almost everyone we’d spoken to had told us that buying personally in Spain was the simpler route. It was only later, after detailed conversations with our sourcing agent, that the picture became clear — and what tipped it was working through the numbers properly and understanding what an SL actually meant for our situation long-term.
But even setting the structure question aside — for a newly formed company with no trading history, lenders who will consider it at all typically limit the loan to 50–60% of the purchase price and may cap the term at 15 years. And you’d need to act as personal guarantor, which means your personal financial profile has to meet the bank’s criteria regardless.
Two brokers, same answer
We approached two brokers. The first was a specialist in UK buyers purchasing in Spain — professional, thorough, and honest when the numbers didn’t stack up. The second came recommended through contacts in Alicante; they couldn’t find us a deal either, and their fees were considerably higher for arriving at the same conclusion.
Neither could make it work for us. And after the initial disappointment, I’m glad they were straight with us rather than stringing us along.
What we did instead — and why it turned out better
Without mortgage leverage, Valencia at the price point we had in mind was out of reach. We needed a market where our cash could buy something genuinely strong. A contact pointed us to a sourcing agent based in the Alicante region — they knew that area exclusively and worked only there. Even within Alicante itself they couldn’t find the right fit, and so they looked further into Elche — a city I’d never considered before but which kept presenting itself as the right answer.
By that point, the company structure question had also resolved itself. After working through the numbers properly with our sourcing agent and his team, it became clear the Spanish SL was the right vehicle for us — profits reinvested rather than extracted, clean separation from our UK finances, no personal tax implications on a long-term hold. Everyone before had said buy personally. The right people changed our minds.
The true cost of buying with cash through a company is something I’ve written about in detail elsewhere on this site — but the short version is that once we understood the full picture, it was the only decision that made sense.
The flat in Elche has had three tenants contracted within two months of completion. We’re still waiting on the fourth room, but the early signs are strong. The Valencia dream was real — but the Alicante reality has been better.
If you’re hoping to get a Spanish mortgage as a UK buyer
It’s not impossible — but go in with realistic expectations. A specialist broker who understands the UK buyer profile is worth speaking to early, before you fall in love with a specific property. They can tell you quickly whether your profile is likely to be accepted, what loan-to-value to expect, and whether your purchase structure affects your options.
If the mortgage route doesn’t work out, don’t close the door on the investment entirely. It’s worth understanding all your options before you decide. And if it leads you somewhere unexpected — as it did for me — keep an open mind.