Spain’s 2025 property market stayed heavily concentrated in a small set of foreign-buyer hotspots, but the most useful way to read that demand is by separating three things: where overseas buyers accounted for the biggest share of purchases, how prices behaved going into 2026, and which residency and affordability constraints now shape the decision. Using 2025 annual foreign-buyer data from Registradores, the latest official Housing Price Index from INE, and current asking-price snapshots for 2026, this guide shows where foreigners bought most heavily and what that means if you are shortlisting Alicante, Malaga, the islands, Valencia, or a major city market.
Where Foreigners Bought Property in Spain 2025: Key Provinces Calling Foreign Buyers Home
Foreign demand remained important in Spain in 2025, but it was not evenly spread across the country. Registradores said foreign buyers accounted for 13.82% of all home purchases in 2025, with the strongest concentration in coastal and island provinces rather than inland Spain.
| Rank | Province | Foreign share of home purchases in 2025 | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alicante | 43.29% | The clearest mass-market foreign-buyer province, with Costa Blanca demand still combining lifestyle appeal and lower entry prices than the Costa del Sol. |
| 2 | Malaga | 32.8% | High-end Costa del Sol demand stayed deep, especially for lifestyle relocations, second homes, and rental-led buying. |
| 3 | Santa Cruz de Tenerife | 30.04% | Strong island demand and constrained supply kept foreign participation high. |
| 4 | Illes Balears | 29.86% | Premium island market with high prices, tight supply, and strong international demand. |
| 5 | Girona | 25.0% | Costa Brava and second-home demand still gave the province one of Spain’s highest foreign-buyer shares. |
That ranking helps explain why Alicante and Malaga continue to dominate expat property conversations. Alicante is still one of the easiest entry points for foreign buyers who want a coastal market with stronger affordability than Marbella or Mallorca. Malaga, by contrast, is more clearly a premium market: pricing pressure is higher, but liquidity, international services, and relocation demand remain unusually strong.
The islands behave differently again. Santa Cruz de Tenerife and the Balearics both attract heavy overseas demand, but buyers should treat them as supply-constrained premium markets rather than interchangeable beach destinations. Valencia still matters, even though it does not appear in the top-five foreign-share ranking. It remains one of the strongest large-city alternatives for buyers who want an urban market with lower entry prices than Madrid or Barcelona and a better balance between lifestyle and long-term rental demand.
If you want the price side of that comparison, our updated guide to property prices in Spain in 2026 is the best companion piece to this article.
Buyer-country breakdown: who made up foreign demand in 2025
Registradores’ 2025 annual data also gives a more reliable nationality snapshot than mixed quarterly references. Nationally, the biggest buyer groups among foreign purchasers were British buyers (7.97% of foreign purchases), Germans (6.52%), Dutch buyers (6.31%), Moroccans (5.74%), Romanians (5.24%), French buyers (5.11%), and Italians (5.05%).
The national list is useful, but the regional pattern matters more than the headline ranking. British buyers still had the largest share among foreign buyers in Andalusia, Germans dominated the Balearics, Italians led in the Canary Islands, and Dutch buyers ranked first in the Comunitat Valenciana. For a buyer choosing between Alicante, Malaga, Tenerife, Valencia, or Mallorca, that tells you the foreign-demand story is not one market but several different ones.
The Numbers Game: Prices, Mortgages, and Yields
Prices are still moving up, but you should separate official sale-price trends from current asking prices. INE’s Housing Price Index for Q4 2025, published on March 6, 2026, showed annual growth of 12.9% nationwide, with second-hand homes up 13.1% and new homes up 11.2%. That confirms the market entered 2026 with strong momentum.
For current market comparisons, asking-price data is still useful even though it is not the same as final sale prices. idealista’s April 2026 sale-price report put the national asking-price average at EUR2,748/m2, with stronger pressure in markets such as Andalusia, Madrid, Barcelona, Malaga, Valencia, and the islands. If you are comparing purchase options across provinces, use current asking-price data to build a shortlist, then use local comparables and legal due diligence before treating any headline figure as value.
Financing and yields remain local rather than national stories. Non-resident buyers still often see loan-to-value ranges around 60-70%, but real conditions vary by income profile, property type, and lender appetite. Rental yields can still look attractive on paper, yet short-term licensing, community rules, and local enforcement matter more than generic “up to 7%” claims. If you are weighing price versus affordability rather than ownership alone, read the Spain housing fund checklist and the EUR7 billion housing plan guide alongside this article.
Navigating the Landscape: Golden Visa’s End and Key Considerations
One of the biggest structural changes behind this market is the end of Spain’s property-linked Golden Visa route for new applicants. Buying in Spain can still be part of a relocation strategy, but it no longer answers the residency question by itself.
The key practical change is that if you are a non-EU buyer, the most relevant alternatives now are the Non-Lucrative Visa for people living on passive income and the Digital Nomad Visa for eligible remote workers. Our guide to the end of Spain’s Golden Visa explains the policy change in more detail.
Buyers should still budget roughly 10% to 15% above the purchase price for taxes and transaction costs, but the exact total depends on the region and whether the home is a resale or a new build. For the purchase process itself, start with our guide to buying property in Spain. For official tax guidance, use the Agencia Tributaria, and for transaction-cost structure see the Notariado’s home-buying guide.
Due diligence still matters more than the headline market story. A bilingual lawyer should verify ownership, charges, planning issues, community debts, and whether the legal property description matches the Land Registry and cadastral reality before you commit.
Methodology and sources
This article uses three different data sets for three different purposes. Registradores annual 2025 data is used for foreign-buyer share by province and buyer-nationality breakdown. INE’s Q4 2025 Housing Price Index is used for the latest official direction of Spanish sale prices. idealista’s April 2026 report is used for current asking-price context, which is useful for comparing active markets but should not be confused with final sale-price data.
The most useful way to read those sources is to avoid forcing them into one number. Registradores tells you where foreign demand is concentrated. INE confirms whether recorded sale prices are still accelerating or slowing. idealista helps you compare live asking-price pressure across markets that expats actually shortlist.
Looking Ahead to 2026
The 2026 takeaway is not simply that foreigners keep buying in Spain. It is that demand remains concentrated in a handful of coastal and island markets even after the end of the Golden Visa, while price pressure is still running well ahead of normal in many of those same areas. For buyers, that means Alicante, Malaga, Tenerife, Mallorca, Valencia, Madrid, and Barcelona should be treated as very different markets with different affordability, liquidity, and regulatory tradeoffs.
Use this article to understand where foreign demand is strongest, then use our 2026 property price guide and buying-property guide to decide whether the market that looks most popular is actually the market that fits your budget and relocation plan.
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