Sabadell is the bank that finances more of Upscore’s completed Spanish purchases than any other, and it is the clearest case in our data of a bank that behaves differently depending on the applicant’s passport.
What it does not publish is the non-resident criteria — the loan-to-value, the maximum term, the ceiling on your debt-to-income. Those are applied to your file, not stated on a page. So this is what can actually be evidenced: what the bank says, what the law requires of it, and what our own completed purchases show.
The quick answers
- Does Sabadell lend to non-residents? Yes, and it is the most frequent lender across our completed Spanish purchases.
- What loan-to-value? Sabadell does not publish one for non-residents — only that “this limit is usually lower”. The 70% every broker guide attributes to it is a different figure entirely.
- How fast? Median 144 days in our completed purchases — the fastest of the three lenders that appear in our data.
- Best for whom? On our numbers, British applicants. The pattern inverts against CaixaBank.
- Fixed or variable? Both. One buyer’s 2023 quote was a first year fixed then Euribor plus a margin, over 20 years.
- Bundled products? Home and life insurance are the usual pair. Optional by law, and priced accordingly.
What does Sabadell publish about non-resident mortgages?
Almost nothing, and this is where it differs sharply from CaixaBank. Its product pages are written for residents. On the non-resident maximum loan it says only that the limit “is usually lower” — no number. There is no published term, no debt-to-income ceiling, no statement on self-employed foreign income, and nothing on nationality.
Its non-resident offering does not even have a page. The entry point is a card that opens an appointment form rather than a product description. Whatever the terms are, you find them out in the meeting.
So unlike CaixaBank, which publishes 70% and a 20-year term, you cannot pre-qualify yourself against Sabadell by reading. That is a real difference between two banks that both appear on every shortlist, and it is worth knowing before you decide where to spend your first conversation.
What loan-to-value will Sabadell offer?
Not a number it publishes — and the figure the internet attributes to it is somebody else’s.
Every broker guide will tell you Sabadell lends 70% to non-residents. What Sabadell actually publishes is 80% for a first residence and 70% for a second residence, on “el valor menor entre el precio de compra y el valor de tasación” — the lower of purchase price and valuation. Those labels are first versus second home, not resident versus non-resident.
And the offer they sit inside carries this condition, in its own small print:
“Oferta válida solo para personas físicas (sin destino empresarial) residentes en España (…) que tengan ingresos y patrimonio solo en euros.”
Valid only for individuals resident in Spain, with income and assets solely in euros. That excludes, by its own terms, every reader of this page. So the 70% is real, published and about somebody else.
What is supportable for a non-resident is the market position rather than Sabadell’s: lending generally runs at 60 to 70%, and the base varies by bank — Bankinter publishes the lower of price and valuation, CaixaBank the purchase price. Sabadell publishes neither for a non-resident file.
The base is the mechanic to ask about in the meeting. Where a bank uses the lower of price and valuation, a tasación under your agreed price becomes cash from you: agree €250,000, get a valuation of €235,000, and a 70% loan is €164,500 rather than €175,000.
What cannot be borrowed. Purchase taxes and fees run to roughly 10 to 13% of the price in Spain and cannot be added to the loan. Regional transfer-tax rates are published by the Spanish tax agency and the notary tariff by the notaries’ association. Our cost calculator totals it by region.
In Upscore’s Spanish applications the median loan-to-value requested is 75%, and 57.6% of applicants ask to borrow more than 70% of the purchase price (n=1,943). That gap between the request and what a non-resident file supports is the most common reason an application stalls, and no bank relationship fixes it.
The three Spanish banks side by side
| CaixaBank | Banco Sabadell | Bankinter | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Publishes its non-resident criteria | Yes — 8 of 9 points, mostly in an English-language guide | No — only that the limit “is usually lower” | Partly |
| Maximum loan-to-value | 70% | Not published | 60% |
| Calculated on | the purchase price | — | the lower of price and valuation |
| Maximum term | 20 years (15 for some currencies) | Not published | 25 years |
| Age limit | Oldest applicant’s age + term ≤ 80 | Not published | Not published |
| Fixed rate if you are paid in USD or GBP | Yes, in your own currency | Advertised offer is euro-income only | No — euro income only |
| Names the credit bureau to use | No | No | Yes — Experian and Equifax for England |
| Median time to completion, Upscore files | 154 days | 144 days | Does not appear in our completions |
| Faster with | American applicants | British applicants | — |
Bank criteria checked August 2026 against each bank’s own pages, guides and rate sheets. Completion times are Upscore’s own files; the nationality pattern comes from samples below fifty cases, so read it as direction rather than measurement.
Two rows deserve a second look. The base matters as much as the percentage — on a €250,000 purchase valued at €235,000, CaixaBank’s published 70% of price is €175,000 while Bankinter’s 60% of the lower figure is €141,000. That is a €34,000 difference in the cash you bring, not a ten-point difference. And the currency you are paid in decides more than your nationality does.
How long does Sabadell take?
Median 144 days from first enquiry to completion in Upscore’s completed Spanish purchases — the fastest of the three lenders that appear in our completed set. CaixaBank’s median is 154 days and UCI’s is substantially longer.
Across all our completed purchases the overall median is 4.7 months, with a spread from under one month to over a year. The variation between banks is wider than the variation between applicants, which makes bank choice a scheduling decision as well as a pricing one — an approval has a validity period, and one that takes eight months may be repriced before you use it.
Worth saying plainly: the delay is almost never the credit decision. It is the NIE, the sworn translations and the documents — all of which you can start before you have chosen a property.
Is Sabadell better for British or American buyers?
On our data, British — and this is the most actionable pattern we have on Spanish banks.
Across Upscore’s completed purchases, Sabadell is materially faster with British applicants and CaixaBank is faster with Americans. The direction is consistent, and it inverts cleanly between the two banks.
Two caveats that have to travel with that, because the samples are small. Both cuts sit well below fifty cases, so this is direction and not measurement — you should not plan around a specific number of days. And Upscore works with local Spanish banks, so our record describes the files that reach us rather than the Spanish market as a whole.
What it is reasonable to take from it: if you hold a British passport, Sabadell belongs on your shortlist, and it is worth asking any broker whether they see the same pattern. The specifics for a UK buyer are in the UK citizen’s guide to a Spanish mortgage.
For the completions we have recorded from British residents buying in Spain, the lender was Sabadell in eight cases, CaixaBank in four and UCI in one. Thirteen completions: read the order, not the percentages.
What rate and structure does Sabadell offer?
The bank prices per file, so a published number would be misleading. What exists is a real quote posted by a buyer who collected three in the same month, on the same profile:
“As promised: Here are the quotes habemo got us: -Sabadell: Variable mortgage: First year fixed 3,6% and after that Euribor+ 1,6% Home + life insurances 20 years -Bankinter: Hybrid mortgage 3 years fixed 3,6% and after that Euribor + 1,6% Home + Life insurance 25 years -Caixa: Fixed mortgage, 4% Home + life insurances + alarm 20 years […] Caixabank seems the best one by far. Especially for fixed mortgages.”
— r/GoingToSpain, How do I get a good mortgage rate as a non-resident? (August 2023)
Those rates are from 2023 and are not a current quote. What survives is the structure: Sabadell offered a first year fixed and then Euribor plus a margin, over the shortest term of the three, with home and life insurance in the package. In that particular comparison the buyer preferred CaixaBank’s genuine full-term fixed rate. For where the market sits today rather than in 2023, the Bank of Spain’s lending statistics are the neutral reference.
Read that as one applicant’s experience, which is what it is — and as a demonstration of the underlying point: three banks, one file, one month, three different structures.
Under Ley 5/2019 a lender cannot make the mortgage conditional on buying insurance, but it can offer a lower rate when you do. So the headline rate usually assumes the bundle, and the bundle has its own cost. Compare the total.
What will Sabadell ask you for?
The standard Spanish non-resident file, which is not specific to Sabadell.
| What | Detail |
|---|---|
| Passport and NIE | Needed for the purchase itself, not only the loan. Start it first |
| Proof of income | Three to six months of payslips, or two to three years of accounts |
| Bank statements | Six months, every account you hold |
| Every existing debt payment | Anywhere in the world |
| Tax returns | SA302 or P60 for a British applicant, usually two years |
| A credit report from where you live | Standard on a non-resident file, read for undeclared debt and defaults |
| Sworn translations | Of income and tax documents, by a certified translator |
| A Spanish bank account | To service the mortgage and the utilities |
On this one Sabadell is explicit, and it is one of the few non-resident specifics it does publish. Its own list asks you to “aportar información sobre el historial crediticio del solicitante en el país en el que tenga fijada su residencia fiscal” — provide information on your credit history in your country of tax residence. It names no bureau, unlike some competitors.
Two published facts sit behind it: article 12.1 of Ley 5/2019 obliges every Spanish lender to assess an applicant’s credit history, and the Bank of Spain’s CIRBE records only credit held in Spain, so it returns nothing for a first-time foreign buyer. Connecting the two is our reading rather than a bank’s statement. What is not in doubt: there is no Spanish score, and Sabadell asks for the foreign history. How credit scores work in Spain covers what it is read for.
The hard filter is the ratio. Across Upscore’s Spanish applications, among applicants whose existing housing costs already took more than 35% of their income, none went on to complete a purchase (n=333). Existing debt itself is not the disqualifier people assume — British applicants who already carry debt complete at 1.03% (n=390), because carrying a mortgage usually means owning an asset.
Frequently asked questions
Does Banco Sabadell offer mortgages to non-residents?
Yes. It is the most frequent lender across Upscore’s completed Spanish purchases. It does not publish its non-resident criteria.
What is Sabadell’s maximum LTV for a non-resident?
It does not publish one — only that the limit “is usually lower”. The 70% widely attributed to it is its second-residence figure, inside an offer restricted to residents of Spain with euro-only income.
How long does a Sabadell mortgage take?
Median 144 days from first enquiry to completion in our completed purchases — the fastest of the three lenders in our set. Documents and translations, not the credit decision, are the usual bottleneck.
Is Sabadell better than CaixaBank?
It depends on your passport more than on the bank. Our completions suggest Sabadell moves faster with British applicants and CaixaBank with Americans, on small samples.
Do I have to take Sabadell’s insurance?
Not as a condition of the loan — tying is prohibited by Ley 5/2019. Taking home and life insurance with the bank typically reduces the rate, and the products cost something. Compare the total.
Can I apply from the UK without travelling to Spain?
You can start the application remotely. For completion you either attend the notary in person or grant power of attorney to a Spanish lawyer, which is common for foreign buyers.
Does Sabadell lend on a property I plan to let short-term?
Ask before the valuation rather than after. Several Spanish banks apply stricter criteria to properties intended purely for tourist letting, and most will not count projected rental income towards what you can borrow.
The bottom line
Sabadell has the strongest record in our own data: the most completions, the shortest median at 144 days, and the clearest advantage with British applicants. That is a reason to put it on the shortlist.
It is also the least transparent of the three on paper — no published non-resident loan-to-value, no term, and an entry point that is an appointment form rather than a product. So do not judge it by its website, and do not believe the 70% you will read elsewhere. Ask for the number and the base it is calculated on, in the meeting.
Get the NIE and translations moving early, then put your file in front of more than one bank — the three quotes above are one buyer proving in a single month that the same file produces different offers.
Once you have a specific property in mind, Upscore’s Finance Passport shows which Spanish banks will approve your profile. It is free and takes under fifteen minutes. See also mortgages in Spain for non-residents and Spanish mortgage rates for non-residents.
