Lorraine Williamson
One detail matters more than the headline figure: most foreign buyers are not fly-in investors. In the second half of 2024, 58.1% of foreign purchases were made by foreigners living in Spain (40,489 transactions), while non-residents accounted for 41.9% (29,201).
That split helps explain why the pressure is so visible in certain neighbourhoods and towns. Resident buyers tend to track jobs, schools and year-round services. Non-resident buyers cluster around lifestyle destinations, beach markets and short-break connectivity.
Foreign buyers are paying more – especially non-residents
Price is where the gap widens. The average price paid by foreign buyers in the second half of 2024 was €2,362 per square metre, up 8.6% on the same period in 2023. Spanish nationals paid €1,713 per square metre on average.
Non-resident buyers sit in a different bracket again, paying an average €3,063 per square metre, compared with €1,795 for foreign residents.
This is one reason the market can feel like it is moving at two speeds: households buying with local salaries are competing in a pricing environment increasingly shaped by international budgets.
Supply is falling – and homes are selling faster
At the same time, the number of homes available to buy is shrinking. Idealista reported a 15% year-on-year drop in listings in Q4 2024 – the biggest annual fall it has recorded.
That does not mean the whole country has “run out” of homes. It does mean that in many high-demand markets, the pool of realistic options is thinning, choice is narrowing, and sellers hold more leverage.
Where the pressure concentrates: coast, islands and big-name provinces
Foreign demand is not evenly distributed. Registrars’ figures for 2024 show the highest shares of foreign purchases in Illes Balears (32.6%), Comunitat Valenciana (28.9%), Canarias (27.2%), Región de Murcia (23.6%), Cataluña (16.3%) and Andalucía (14%). Provinces like Alicante (43.8%) and Málaga (32.4%) sit at the sharp end of that trend.
In practical terms, this is why “national averages” often fail to match what buyers experience in places such as the Costa del Sol, the southern Costa Blanca, or parts of the islands: these markets attract both international residents and second-home demand, and they do so year after year.
Why it keeps happening: demand is flexible, supply isn’t
Spain’s housing problem is increasingly structural. Demand is being pushed by household formation, migration, lifestyle moves and shifting financing conditions. Supply, meanwhile, responds slowly: land availability, planning timelines, build capacity and local regulation all act as constraints.
The Bank of Spain has repeatedly pointed to a strong demand backdrop meeting a relatively rigid supply, supporting sustained price growth.
What it means if you’re trying to buy
For many Spanish buyers, the issue is not that foreigners are purchasing homes, but that the market has too few homes to absorb everybody who wants one. In tight areas, even small shifts in demand can move prices quickly when supply is limited.
For foreign residents, the trend is also a warning: buying “like a local” is becoming harder, particularly in coastal provinces where price competition is fiercest. For non-resident buyers, the data suggests their spending power is now a meaningful force in the markets they favour most.
Canary Islands second home restrictions possible
Pressure likely to persist
The notary numbers show momentum in foreign transactions through late 2024, while the listings data shows availability moving in the opposite direction. Until construction and resale supply rise meaningfully in high-demand areas, the fundamentals point to continued pressure on prices and affordability.
The bigger question for 2026 is not whether international demand will disappear – it likely won’t – but whether policy and building capacity can increase supply fast enough to stop “nearly one in five” becoming the defining fact of Spain’s housing debate.
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