Not an averaged range borrowed from elsewhere: the schedules the developers of the projects on this site have supplied in writing.
Off-plan purchases are paid in stages, and the stages are not standardised. The figures below are not a market average taken from elsewhere -- they are the actual schedules supplied by the developers of the projects listed on this site, which is why the ranges are narrower and less tidy than the ones you will read in a generic guide.
Across the projects on this site where the developer has supplied a written schedule, the shape is consistent even though the numbers move.
Either a fixed sum or a percentage. We see fixed reservations from €6,000 to €10,000, and percentage reservations from 1% to 5%. This takes the unit off the market for an agreed period while contracts are prepared.
Typically bringing the total paid to 30%, with the reservation usually counted towards it. Some developers stage this as 25% at contract with the balance spread across the build. Signing windows are short -- 15 to 30 days from reservation is normal.
Highly variable. Some projects take nothing between contract and completion; others take 10% at a fixed date, or tie payments to certified milestones such as completion of the foundation and of the structure. One project on this site spreads 50% across fifteen monthly payments from the start of works.
The balance at the deed of sale, most often 50% to 70%. This is also where the bulk of the tax falls due.
Note that stage payments are quoted plus VAT in most schedules, so the cash required at each stage is higher than the headline percentage. See what a new-build costs on top of the price for how IVA and AJD land across the timeline.
This is worth stating plainly, because it is often blurred: there is no Spanish statute governing reservation agreements. What your reservation fee does, whether it is refundable, and for how long, is whatever your particular reservation document says. It is a contract, and its terms vary between developers.
That matters more than it sounds, because the statutory guarantee over advance payments only begins once the building licence has been obtained. A reservation paid before that point rests on the contract wording alone. Some agreements make the fee refundable for a defined due-diligence window; others do not. Read it, or have your lawyer read it, before transferring anything -- and see how the bank guarantee works for what changes once the licence is in place.
Once the guarantee regime applies, amounts you pay on account must be received through a credit institution and held in a special account, separate from any other class of funds, and may only be drawn for costs arising directly from building those homes. If a developer proposes any other arrangement for staged payments, that is the point to stop and take advice.
Schedules are quoted net of VAT, so every percentage on them understates the transfer by a tenth. On a €600,000 home the difference is not academic.
€10,000, usually counted towards the next stage rather than added to it.
€180,000 net, less the €10,000 already paid, plus 10% IVA on the €180,000. The transfer is €188,000, not €170,000.
€420,000 net plus IVA on that, plus the AJD on the full price, plus notary, registry and legal. Around €476,000 before fees.
Read a schedule as net figures and add a tenth to each. A plan that looks like 30/70 is closer to 33/77 of the price in cash terms, and that is the number to hold against your own liquidity.
Two schedules can quote identical percentages and behave completely differently, because what triggers a payment is set by wording rather than by the number beside it.
A date is a promise. A certified construction milestone -- foundation complete, structure complete -- is an event someone signs off. Milestone-linked schedules move with the build; date-linked ones ask you to pay on time whether or not the build did.
Where payments follow milestones, the schedule should say who confirms one has been reached. In practice that is the project's technical architect, and the certificate is a document you can ask to see.
Fifteen days is common, and it is short if funds have to move across borders. Establish the notice period before you sign rather than discovering it with a payment demand.
Contracts vary widely: interest, a cure period, and in some cases termination with retention of part of what you have paid. This is one of the clauses worth reading closely, because it is the one that costs the most when it applies.
If your money is not in euros, a staged purchase is a series of conversions rather than one, and the schedule says nothing about that.
A build running two or three years means four or five transfers, each at whatever the rate is that week. Buyers who fix the rate forward for known dates trade the chance of a better rate for a known number, which is a decision worth taking deliberately rather than by default. Where the schedule is milestone-linked rather than date-linked, forward cover is harder to arrange, and that is a real argument for asking which kind you are being offered.
Sometimes, and more often on the timing than the totals. Developers with financing tied to pre-sales have less room than those releasing later phases. It is always worth asking, and the answer tells you something about the project either way.
Occasionally offered, and worth weighing carefully: paying ahead of the schedule increases what you have at risk before delivery, and the guarantee covers what you have paid rather than what you were promised in return.
Tell the developer before the date rather than after. Most contracts allow for a cure period and interest, and a conversation held early is a different conversation from one held after a default has been declared.
They should go to the special account named in your contract, held apart from the developer's other funds, once the guarantee regime applies. Compare the account on the contract against the one on the payment instruction each time.
Not by itself. Spreading payments helps your cash flow and increases the period over which you are exposed to the build completing. Which matters more depends on your own position, not on the shape of the schedule.
The ranges above describe the written schedules held for the projects listed on this site as of August 2026. They are not a rule, and they are not an offer -- an individual developer can and does structure payments differently, and terms change between releases. Nueva Living reconfirms the current payment structure in writing for a specific residence before any reservation.
This guide is general information about buying a new-build home on the Costa del Sol. It is not legal, tax or financial advice, and does not replace independent professional advice tailored to your situation.