Spain sold fewer homes in the second quarter of 2026 than in any quarter of the previous seven — and foreign buyers took a record share of what was left. The Property Registrars logged 167,934 transactions, down 5.7% on the first quarter, the second consecutive quarterly fall. Foreign buyers accounted for 15.98% of them, the highest figure in the entire series. In Alicante province the share reached 46.43%, first in Spain by a wide margin.
The quarter in numbers
All figures below come from the Colegio de Registradores' quarterly Estadística Registral Inmobiliaria for Q2 2026, published in August:
| Indicator | Q2 2026 | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Home sales, Spain | 167,934 | −5.7% vs Q1 |
| Average price | €2,487/m² | +2.4% vs Q1 · +9.2% year on year |
| Foreign buyer share | 15.98% | +1.88 pp year on year — record |
| Foreign purchases | more than 26,800 | +11% year on year |
| Alicante province | 5,710 purchases · 46.43% | +3.13 pp year on year |
| Málaga province | 3,474 purchases · 37.01% | purchases +20.79% year on year |
Two of those rows point in opposite directions, and that is the entire story of the quarter. The market shrank. International demand inside it grew — in percentage terms and in absolute numbers at the same time.
Why the two halves are moving apart
A falling transaction count with a rising price is what a supply constraint looks like, not a demand collapse. The average price per square metre hit an all-time high in the same quarter that sales hit a seven-quarter low. If buyers were retreating, those two lines would move together.
What separates the two groups of buyers is exposure to Spanish mortgage costs. The 12-month Euribor closed July at 2.855% and its provisional August average stands at 2.949%; on 21 August the daily rate closed at 3.003%, the first reading above 3% since September 2024. A Spanish household financing 80% of a purchase feels every basis point of that. A foreign buyer paying cash, or borrowing 60–70% against income earned in another country, feels considerably less of it.
The result is a market where the domestic side is rate-sensitive and thinning, while the international side keeps buying — and therefore accounts for a larger share of a shrinking market each quarter.
Alicante: 46.43%, and what sits behind it
Alicante province has led Spain on this measure for years, but the pace of the climb is the part worth noticing. In full-year 2025 the province recorded 23,112 international purchases, 43.29% of its market. One quarter of 2026 alone brought 5,710 — and the share is now 46.43%, up 3.13 percentage points in a year.
Málaga, its nearest rival on this measure, sits at 37.01%. Its growth in purchase volume was faster (+20.79%), but it started from further back and remains nine points behind on share.
Practically, a 46.43% share means that on the Costa Blanca the buyer standing next to you at a viewing is, as often as not, also foreign. That cuts both ways: it removes the awkwardness of being an outsider in the process — agencies, lawyers and banks here are built around international buyers — and it means the competition for well-priced coastal stock is not local demand, which is retreating, but other international buyers, who are not.
The nationality shift: the Dutch are closing on Germany
Underneath the headline share, the mix of nationalities is changing faster than the total. In 2025 the Netherlands was the fastest-growing of the major markets, with 6,153 second-home purchases — up 23.7% on 2024, and roughly 200 transactions behind Germany. The United Kingdom still leads, as it has for decades, but the gap between second and third place has effectively closed.
This matches what we see on the ground. Dutch enquiries concentrate on the northern Costa Blanca — Jávea, Denia, Moraira — and increasingly on year-round living rather than a summer flat, a shift visible in the questions we get: schools, healthcare registration, winter climate, flight connections in January rather than July.
A note on which number you are reading
You will see the foreign share of the Spanish market quoted as 15.98% here and as 19–20% elsewhere in the same week. Both can be correct. The Registrars count deeds as they are entered in the property register; the notaries count signings, on a different timetable and a slightly different base. The two series have always run several points apart.
What matters is not choosing the flattering one but staying on the same series when you compare across time or between provinces. That is exactly why everything in this article, and in our 2026 market forecast, is built on the Registrars' figures.
The honest boundary: a record foreign share is a demand signal, not a valuation. It tells you who is buying, not that any particular property is priced correctly. Alicante's 46.43% has been building for a decade — it is a structural feature of this coast, not a spike to trade on. And a registry-based series lags the market by weeks or months, so it describes the quarter that ended, not the one you are buying in.
What this means if you are buying
1. Waiting no longer buys you cheaper financing
The rate cycle has turned. Euribor has now risen for several months and closed above 3% for the first time in nearly two years. Any plan built on "rates will be lower by spring" needs a different foundation — our mortgage guide for foreign buyers sets out what Spanish banks currently offer non-residents.
2. Fewer sales does not mean more negotiating room
A 5.7% drop in transactions looks, on paper, like a buyer's market. On this coast it mostly measures how little is left at accessible prices, while the price per square metre sets records in the same quarter. Discounts exist on individual properties that were mispriced or have sat too long — not across the market.
3. Your competition is international, and it is growing
In Alicante nearly half of all purchases are now foreign. Well-located property in the €200–400K band moves quickly because it is contested by buyers from several countries at once, not because agencies say so.
4. Being a foreign buyer here is the normal case
At 46.43%, the process is built for you: remote purchase by power of attorney, NIE handled in parallel, non-resident mortgages as a standard product. That is a genuine practical advantage of buying in this province rather than an inland market where an international purchase is an exception.
The takeaway
The Q2 data does not describe a market cooling down. It describes one narrowing: fewer homes changing hands, at record prices per square metre, with an ever-larger proportion of them going to buyers from abroad. Domestic demand is being priced out by financing costs; international demand is not, and on the Costa Blanca it now accounts for close to half of everything sold.
For anyone weighing a purchase here, the useful conclusion is not the 15.98% headline. It is that the two things which would normally give a buyer leverage — falling transaction volumes and rising rates — are not producing leverage on this coast, because the buyer they are squeezing is not the one you are competing with.
Current availability is in our catalogue, with apartments on the Costa Blanca and new-build projects kept up to date on phase prices. For the full picture by region, see our Spain Property Market Forecast 2026.
