Spain is our top choice for a cheap life in the sun. Around 130,000 British over-60s live there and the UK's cost-of-living crisis remains a big driver, despite price hikes on some Spanish goods.
Every Sunday, Lynne Eyre-Bower heads to a pub in her Valencian town for lunch with friends. She moved to a working town rather than a beach resort to experience an authentic Spanish lifestyle, yet once a week she loves to catch up over a British-style Sunday roast for the princely sum of €13.
She's far from alone in relocating to Spain for the lower cost of living, with the added bonus of 300 days' sunshine a year. More affordable than the Costa del Sol, her province of Alicante is the most popular for Britons, with 76,739 living there in 2023, according to the local census.
When Lynne reaches 66, she will get her UK state pension, although after working for 23 years she will not get the full £221 per week, but around £130-140.
In Andalusia, the over-65s can get a 'Card 65' which gives them discounts on buses, spectacles, hearing aids and hotels. One of the government deductions was on petrol, and Lynne says she pays €1.54-1.96 per litre for unleaded petrol. Here it's £1.45p per litre, according to the AA. Ready for when she hits UK state pension age, Lynne has applied for a S1 certificate that will let her pay less for prescriptions and access free primary healthcare. Until then, she pays €1,500 a year for private healthcare – a necessary condition of her residency – via the Non-Lucrative Visa.
So the CGT on a £500,000 gain on a house would be €127,880, at the €1.17 exchange rate at the time of writing.
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