Foreign property purchases in Spain fell 13% in the first half of 2026 — the steepest drop since the pandemic. Yet the average price paid by foreign buyers hit a record €2,644/m², up 9.4% year on year. Fewer buyers, higher prices. If you are weighing a purchase in Spain, that combination tells you something important.
Foreign Property Purchases in Spain: What the H1 2026 Data Shows
According to the General Council of Notaries, foreign buyers completed 62,327 residential purchases in Spain in the first half of 2026. That is a 13% decline compared to H1 2025 — the largest annual drop since COVID-19 disrupted the market in 2020.
Foreign buyers now represent 18.3% of all Spanish residential transactions, down from 19.2% in H1 2025 and 20.3% in 2024. The retreat is consistent across almost every nationality and every region.
Foreign Property Purchases in Spain: Why Non-Residents Are Pulling Back Fastest
The gap between resident and non-resident buyer behaviour is the most instructive detail in the data. Resident foreigners — people already living and working in Spain — reduced purchases by 9.7%. That is notable but not alarming; their activity still sits high by historical standards.
Non-residents fell 18%, bringing their transaction count to its lowest level in five years and well below the 2022 peak. These are the buyers most sensitive to currency movements, financing costs, and the friction of buying from abroad. For this group, Spain has simply become harder to access at current prices.
Non-resident purchases are at a five-year low — but prices paid by non-residents just hit a record €3,493/m². Those who are still buying are paying more, not less. The drop in volume is not creating a buyer’s market. It reflects fewer people being able to close, not fewer people wanting to.
Foreign Property Purchases in Spain: Record Prices Despite Falling Volume
The average price paid by all foreign buyers reached €2,644/m² in H1 2026 — a record high and a 9.4% increase on the same period last year. This is the detail most buyers find counterintuitive: volume drops, but prices do not.
There are two reasons. First, the Spanish domestic market is absorbing much of the stock that foreign buyers are stepping back from — Spanish buyers paid an average of €1,971/m². Second, the foreign buyers who are still active are more affluent. The data shows this directly: buyers from the US averaged €3,948/m², Swedes €3,839/m², Germans €3,763/m². The buyers exiting the market are the price-sensitive ones; the ones remaining are not.
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Foreign Property Purchases in Spain: Buyer Nationalities — Who Is Buying, Who Has Stopped
Morocco became the top origin country for the first time, with 4,960 purchases (8% of total foreign transactions). This reflects the strong share of Moroccan residents in Spain rather than a surge in non-resident investment. The UK fell to second place with 4,541 purchases (7.3%), followed by Italy (4,109; 6.6%), Romania (3,974; 6.4%) and Germany (3,907; 6.3%). These five nationalities combined for 34.6% of all foreign transactions.
The declines among North American, Northern European and East Asian buyers are striking. Purchases by US buyers fell 22%. UK buyers fell 21%. Russians −26.2%. Chinese −26.1%. Belgians −21.3%. Among all tracked nationalities, only Venezuela (+10.2%) and Colombia (+7.4%) grew.
US buyers pay the most per m² (€3,948) but their volume fell 22%. This is a financing story: Spanish mortgage rates remain elevated compared to 2021–2022, and non-residents face a 70% maximum LTV, meaning a buyer purchasing at €400,000 must bring €120,000 upfront before costs. Without pre-approved financing confirmed before the search, many buyers are discovering late in the process that they cannot close. A pre-approval from a Spanish bank — obtained before the trip — solves this entirely.
Foreign Property Purchases in Spain: Regional Picture — Valencia Holds Its Lead
The Valencian Community remained Spain’s top destination for foreign buyers. Non-residents alone completed 9,250 purchases there, representing 40.3% of the region’s total transactions — by far the highest foreign-buyer concentration in the country. Resident foreigners added 8,196 more purchases. Andalusia recorded over 11,800 total foreign transactions and Catalonia over 10,000.
Almost every major region declined. The steepest falls were in Cantabria (−20.5%), the Canary Islands (−20.3%) and the Community of Madrid (−19.7%). The Balearic Islands and Valencian Community both fell 15.4%. Only Castilla-La Mancha (+4.4%) and Extremadura (+3.3%) grew — both inland regions at much lower price points.
Foreign Property Purchases in Spain: What This Means for Buyers in 2026
The headline — foreign purchases down 13% — can be misread as good news for buyers waiting on the sidelines. The data does not support that reading. Price per square metre just hit an all-time high. Spanish domestic demand is filling much of the gap left by retreating foreign buyers. Supply in the Valencian Community, Andalusia and Catalonia remains tight.
What the data does confirm is that the buyers being priced out or squeezed out are primarily those without pre-arranged financing. The non-resident decline of 18% is concentrated in buyers who arrived without a confirmed mortgage and discovered — too late — that Spanish lenders were not going to approve them on their preferred timeline.
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