Foreigners buy 51,630 homes in the first half of 2026, 14.9% of the total, while overall sales fall 1.9%

30/09/2026 – ⏱ 4 min

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice or a recommendation of any kind.

The Spanish residential market is going through 2026 with uneven behaviour depending on the buyer profile. While overall home sales are contracting slightly, demand from abroad is holding its pace. Data from the Land Registrars' College (Colegio de Registradores de la Propiedad), published by idealista on 27 September, indicate that foreign buyers acquired 51,630 homes during the first half of 2026, which is 14.9% of all transactions, the highest percentage in the Registrars' historical series. Over the same period, total sales stood at 346,030 units, 1.9% fewer than in the first half of 2025.

The half-year figures: 51,630 transactions and 14.9% of the total

Purchases by foreigners grew 8% compared with the immediately preceding half-year and 3.8% year on year. The quarterly data had already shown this trend: in the second quarter of 2026, foreigners accounted for 15.98% of transactions, one in six. Comparing the two series describes a market in which the relative weight of the international buyer is increasing in two ways: because their purchases hold steady or grow and because those of the domestic buyer are shrinking.

Nationalities: British, Dutch, Moroccans and Germans

By nationality, the British top the list with 3,510 sales in the half-year, followed very closely by the Dutch (3.430), Moroccans (3.125) and Germans (3.100). The differences between the top four places are small, so the order may change between periods. European Union citizens together account for around 58% of purchases made by foreigners, and the rest come from third countries, including the United Kingdom, Morocco and those of American and Asian origin.

Provinces: Alicante, Málaga and the Balearic Islands concentrate the foreign presence

The territorial distribution remains highly concentrated on the Mediterranean coast and in the archipelagos. In Alicante, foreigners took part in 45.5% of sales (11,340 transactions); in Málaga, 35.7% (6.463); in the Balearic Islands, 30.5%; in Girona, 25.1%; and in Las Palmas, 23.2%. In these provinces, almost one in every three or four homes sold has a foreign buyer, a proportion far above the national average of 14.9%. Outside those areas, the weight is considerably lower, which explains why the aggregate national figure hides wide territorial differences.

Price: the international buyer pays more per square metre

Another relevant element is price. According to a report by Unión de Créditos Inmobiliarios (UCI) on the 2025 market, picked up by idealista, the international buyer paid an average of 2,479 euros per square metre, compared with 1,839 euros for the domestic buyer, a difference of 35%. The average amount of transactions by foreign buyers reached 204,365 euros, 40% more than in 2019. According to the same report, foreign residents already living in Spain accounted for 11.6% of residential transactions in 2025 and non-residents for 7.2%. By origin, North American buyers pay between 4.311 and 4,336 euros per square metre, compared with an average of between 3.085 and 3,149 euros for European Union buyers and between 2.668 and 2,691 euros for Asians, according to the published data.

From holiday use to permanent residence

The UCI report describes international demand as a structural component of the market, increasingly linked to permanent residence and less to the holiday second home. That shift is associated with factors such as remote working, quality of life and lower price pressure in some areas of northern Spain, which are beginning to appear among the destinations with growing foreign demand, alongside the Valencian Community, the Balearic Islands, the Canary Islands and Andalusia, which remain the regions with the greatest weight.

Why this matters to the real-estate investor

The presence of a buyer with a different purchasing power from that of the local buyer influences price formation in the provinces where it is concentrated. When almost a third of a province's transactions involve a foreign buyer, the effective demand in that area depends in part on factors external to the Spanish labour and mortgage markets, such as the evolution of the exchange rate, the economic situation of the countries of origin or regulatory changes in tax and residence matters. For anyone analysing the residential market, this introduces segmentation: the behaviour of Alicante, Málaga or the Balearic Islands is not necessarily representative of the rest of the country.

To this is added the financing context. The 12-month Euribor closed September 2026 at 3.251%, according to the data published after the European Central Bank's rate rise on 10 September, which put the deposit facility at 2.50%. More expensive credit mainly affects the buyer who depends on a mortgage, whereas part of foreign demand is carried out without bank financing, which may explain, at least in part, why their volume of purchases is evolving differently from that of the domestic buyer.

An investor's perspective

These figures should be interpreted with caution. The Registrars' data reflect registered transactions, so there may be lags with respect to the actual date of purchase. The classification by nationality does not distinguish between residents and non-residents in all cases, and price comparisons by origin come from different samples and sources, so they are not directly comparable. In addition, a half-year is a short period from which to draw trend conclusions. Past results are no guide to future ones, and any real-estate investment carries risks of illiquidity, default and total or partial loss of capital.

In a market with significant international demand and more expensive financing, in previous cycles some private capital has explored routes to real-estate exposure other than the direct purchase of a home, including regulated crowdfunding formulas. This is an observed dynamic, not a recommendation. At European level, the activity of crowdfunding platforms is governed by Regulation (EU) 2020/1503 and, in Spain, by the implementing rules and supervision of the CNMV.

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