Selling your home and buying another at once: how to coordinate the timing
What to do first, how to make the contract conditional, what a bridging mortgage is and the deadlines that affect main-home reinvestment.
1 min read
Moving home means coordinating two transactions, and usually one depends on the other. Without a plan, you can end up with two mortgages or without a home for a while.
Sell first or buy first?
- Selling first gives certainty about available money, but may mean finding somewhere temporary.
- Buying first lets you choose calmly, but you take the risk of not selling in time.
There is no single answer: it depends on your savings and how the market moves in your area.
Common tools
- Agreeing a flexible handover date with your buyer.
- Making your purchase conditional on selling, if the other side accepts.
- A bridging mortgage to fund the overlap: ask about terms and the payment during that period.
- Setting a realistic deed date in the deposit contract.
The tax side
If you sell your main home at a gain and buy another main home, you may use reinvestment relief if you meet the legal deadlines. Generally you have two years, before or after the sale. You must declare it on your tax return even if you pay nothing.
List of costs
Add plusvalía, notary, cancelling your mortgage at the registry, any early repayment fee, taxes on the new purchase and moving.
Work out in advance how much you will net from the sale before signing your new purchase. Everything else depends on that figure.
