🇪🇸 Foreign buyers hit record in Spain as market cools

Foreign buyers purchased a record 51,630 homes in Spain in the first half of 2026, even as the broader market softened. International buyers accounted for 15.98% of all transactions in the second quarter of 2026, with buying concentrated in the Balearic Islands, Valencian Community, Canary Islands, Murcia, Catalonia and Andalusia.

Land Registry data show overseas purchasers remained active in Alicante, Málaga and the Balearic Islands, areas that continue to attract second-home and lifestyle demand. The figures, reported by idealista/news, come as overall Spanish sales lost momentum in the first half of 2026, with total home sales down 1.9% year on year.

Why it matters for investors

The data point to a two-speed Spanish market in which prime leisure locations are still drawing international capital while domestic demand cools. For investors, that pattern supports pricing resilience in established foreign-buyer hubs, even if transaction volumes elsewhere are easing. It also suggests that liquidity is being preserved by cross-border demand rather than by a broad domestic recovery.

➡️ Foreign demand reached an all-time high despite a softer national sales backdrop.

➡️ Coastal and island markets remain the clearest beneficiaries of international appetite.

The latest figures indicate that Spain’s most internationally exposed markets are behaving differently from the national average, with foreign capital helping to stabilise transaction activity in selected locations.