What you pay in IBI, town by town
From 0.53 % in El Campello to 0.96 % in Xixona. But the rate alone says nothing: everything depends on the year the State last revalued your town.
Published · 7 minute read
The rate does not tell you what you will pay
An owner compares 2 towns, sees 0.53 % here and 0.96 % there, and concludes the second costs almost twice as much. That is wrong half the time.
IBI is a product: a rate voted by the town hall, multiplied by a cadastral value set by the State. The rate can change every year by a simple council decision. The value only moves when the town is revalued, and that revaluation can be very old.
Around Busot the gap is striking. Aigües applies 0.80 % to values set in 1988. Mutxamel applies 0.60 % to values set in 2010. On 2 comparable houses, the one in Mutxamel may well pay more, despite having the lower rate of the 2. The revaluation date matters as much as the rate.
That is why the table below carries both columns. We have found nowhere else where they are published side by side for these towns.
In short
Rates run from 0.53 % in El Campello to 0.96 % in Xixona, against a legal ceiling of 1.10 %. But the bill depends just as much on the revaluation year: Aigües taxes a 1988 base at 0.80 %, Mutxamel a 2010 base at 0.60 %. The empty home surcharge only targets owners of 4 or more residential properties, and a second home is a justified cause for up to 4 years.
The 13 towns, rate and revaluation year
Sorted from the lowest rate to the highest. The last column is a simulation on an identical cadastral value, purely to make the gap readable.
| Municipality | Urban rate | Last revaluation | On a value of 80,000 € |
|---|---|---|---|
| El Campello | 0.53 % | 2008 | 424 € |
| La Vila Joiosa | 0.576 % | 2006 | 461 € |
| Mutxamel | 0.60 % | 2010 | 480 € |
| Agost | 0.61 % | 2006 | 488 € |
| Alicante | 0.62042 % | 1996 | 496 € |
| Relleu | 0.65 % | 2002 | 520 € |
| Sant Joan d'Alacant | 0.68 % | 2003 | 544 € |
| Busot | 0.70 % | 2003 | 560 € |
| Sant Vicent del Raspeig | 0.7287 % | 1998 | 583 € |
| Aigües | 0.80 % | 1988 | 640 € |
| Xixona | 0.96 % | 2004 | 768 € |
| Orxeta | not published | not published | not published |
| La Torre de les Maçanes | not published | not published | not published |
The ministry register only covers towns of more than 1,000 inhabitants. Orxeta and la Torre de les Maçanes are below that threshold and do not appear in it. We could not read their ordinance at source from our tools: we would rather write that down than copy a figure found somewhere else. To get it, ask the town hall for the IBI ordenanza fiscal, or read the tipo de gravamen line on your own Suma receipt, which carries it.
The legal ceiling is 1.10 % for urban property and the floor is 0.4 %, article 72.1 of the consolidated act. None of the 11 towns measured comes close to the ceiling.
3 figures to place your town
Taken from the ministry register, 2025 tax year.
The spread between El Campello, the lowest at 0.53 %, and Xixona, the highest at 0.96 %.
The year of the last cadastral revaluation in Aigües. The oldest of the 11 towns measured, 37 years before we looked.
The legal ceiling for urban property. None of the 11 towns reaches it: the highest sits at 0.96 %.
Finding your own figure in 3 minutes
The table gives the town rate. Your bill also depends on your cadastral value, which is specific to your house.
On your receipt. The receipt issued by Suma, the body that collects IBI for almost every town in the province, carries 3 lines: the base imponible, which is the cadastral value, the base liquidable, which is that value after the reductions in articles 67 to 70 of the consolidated act, and the tipo de gravamen, the rate. The cuota is the product of the last 2.
Without the receipt. The Cadastre electronic office gives the cadastral value of your property against an identity check. You need the cadastral reference, 20 characters, which appears on your purchase deed and on the receipt.
What the cadastral value is not. It is not the market price, nor the price you paid. It is an administrative value, usually well below the real price, and the further below the older the revaluation. It is also the base for modelo 210, the imputed income tax for non-residents.
The empty home surcharge does not apply to you
This is the most widespread fear among foreign owners, and it rests on a partial reading of the law. We read the consolidated text in the Spanish official journal.
Article 72.4 of the consolidated act lets town halls add up to 50 % to the IBI of homes that are desocupados con carácter permanente, and up to 100 % beyond 3 years. What is never quoted is the definition that follows immediately after.
A home only falls into that category if it stands empty continuously and without justified cause for more than 2 years, and if it belongs to an owner of 4 or more residential properties. That second condition, added by law 12/2023, rules out the vast majority of second home owners at a stroke.
And the text goes further. It lists the causes deemed justified, and one of them is named outright: inmuebles destinados a usos de vivienda de segunda residencia con un máximo de cuatro años de desocupación continuada. A second home is a justified cause, for up to 4 years of continuous vacancy.
Finally, a town hall cannot add the surcharge on its own initiative. It needs an ordenanza fiscal setting out the evidence and the procedure, an administrative act declaring the home empty, and a prior hearing of the taxpayer. Of the 11 ordinances we were able to read, 3 provide for a surcharge. None of them can apply it to a house used a few weeks a year.
3 dates worth knowing
IBI does not go unnoticed for free.
The charging date
The tax is owed by whoever owns the property on 1 January, article 75 of the consolidated act. Sell on 2 January and you pay the whole year, unless the deed says otherwise.
The payment window
Each town sets its own collection calendar. It is published in the provincial official gazette and announced by Suma. A direct debit saves you having to follow it from abroad.
31 December
That is the date on which the empty home surcharge would fall due, if it applied. It is also the date that closes the modelo 210 tax year.
What we do with this
We read the water and electricity meters on every visit, we date the reading and we photograph it. That reading does not change your IBI, which does not depend on consumption. But zero consumption year after year is one of the indicators the law allows a town hall to use when opening an empty home file. A dated reading showing a house that is looked after and visited is the simplest answer to that question, if it is ever put to you.
A question about your home?
The check visit is free, with no commitment. We come, we check the 38 points and we send you the report. You see what you are buying before you pay.
4 questions about your IBI
Can my IBI rise without the town hall changing the rate?
Yes. The base can rise on its own, through an update of cadastral values passed in the budget act, or through a general revaluation of the town. With the rate untouched, the bill follows. That is why our table carries the revaluation year: a town revalued recently has less catching up to do.
I am a non-resident. Do I pay more IBI?
No. IBI draws no distinction of residence or nationality: it taxes the property, not the person. What changes for a non-resident is modelo 210, a separate tax on imputed income, also calculated from the cadastral value.
What happens if the receipt never reaches me abroad?
The collection period is published officially and does not depend on a letter arriving. Once the deadline passes, a late surcharge is added and then enforced collection, which can go as far as registering a charge against the property. A direct debit is the simplest answer.
Can the town hall declare an unlived-in house empty?
Not if it is used as a second home: the text places that case expressly among the justified causes, for up to 4 years of continuous vacancy. And the surcharge only targets owners of 4 or more residential properties in any event, after a procedure with a prior hearing.
Sources: Spanish finance ministry, local tax register, Alicante volume 2025; Consolidated local finance act, articles 61 to 77, consolidated version; Law 12/2023 on the right to housing, final provision 3, amending article 72.4; Alicante IBI ordinance applicable from 1 January 2026; Cadastre electronic office, cadastral value lookup. All opened on 8 August 2026.
What to remember
- Rates run from 0.53 % in El Campello to 0.96 % in Xixona, against a legal ceiling of 1.10 %.
- The year of the last cadastral revaluation matters as much as the rate: Aigües applies 0.80 % to values set in 1988.
- The empty home surcharge requires 4 or more residential properties, and 2 years of vacancy without justified cause.
- A second home is named in the law as a justified cause, for up to 4 years of continuous vacancy.
Written by Fabrizio and Krystel, Domivaro, Busot. Updated 7 August 2026.
This article gives general information, checked against the sources cited on the date shown. It replaces neither your contract nor the advice of your tax adviser, your insurer or a legal professional. Domivaro provides maintenance and condition reporting, not a private security or tax advisory service.
