Lorraine Williamson
The Alicante property boom is no longer a local curiosity. It sits inside a national surge that has pushed Spain’s housing market back into “boom-era” territory. The country recorded 714,237 home sales in 2025, the highest annual figure since 2007, according to the latest statistics from Spain’s National Institute of Statistics (INE).
But Alicante’s story is sharper than the national one. The province is a magnet for second-home money, international buyers, and cash purchases — and that combination helps explain why properties can move at breathless speed, even as locals talk more openly about being shut out.
A market powered by two buyers, not one
Most provinces live and die by domestic demand. Alicante runs on a split market: Spanish buyers competing with strong international demand, particularly along the Costa Blanca.
Recent analysis based on the Registrars’ data has repeatedly put Alicante at or above 43% foreign participation in the property market — one of the highest shares in Spain, and far above most inland provinces.
That matters because it changes how the market behaves. In a province where a large chunk of demand is external, price sensitivity can look very different. What feels “too expensive” to a local household can still look “good value” to a buyer arriving from higher-priced markets — especially when the purchase is framed as a lifestyle choice as much as an investment.
The €6 billion clue: why prices feel so sticky
One figure tells you how much weight foreign demand carries. Local reporting in Alicante has put the annual value of homes bought by overseas buyers at more than €6 billion, with foreign purchasers paying significantly more per property on average than Spanish buyers.
When that kind of money is flowing, sellers don’t need to chase the market down. They can wait. And buyers who need a mortgage — particularly first-time purchasers — often find themselves negotiating against cash.
Supply is still the weak point
Alicante’s boom isn’t only demand-led. It’s also shaped by what the market can’t produce fast enough.
The province has faced constraints on new supply, including an ongoing shortage of construction labour that has slowed new builds even while demand remains high.
This is where the Alicante market begins to resemble much of Spain: a busy sales pipeline, but nowhere near enough affordable stock coming through behind it. That mismatch is exactly the pattern national analysts keep pointing to — high demand meeting limited supply, pushing prices and transaction volume upwards at the same time.
What this means if you’re trying to buy in 2026
If you’re shopping in Alicante now, the main change isn’t that there are “no homes”. It’s that decision time has shortened. Good listings get snapped up quickly. Buyers are expected to be organised, mortgage-ready, and realistic about what their budget can actually secure.
That shift is already spilling into nearby towns and smaller municipalities as people search for the space and price points they can no longer find in the hotspots.
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And if you’re a local renter watching this unfold
High transaction volumes can sound like “healthy confidence”. On the ground, it often lands as pressure.
When homes become an asset class first and a place to live second, housing politics inevitably follow. Alicante has already seen housing stories flare into public controversy — including the recent scandal around protected housing allocations in a luxury development, now under investigation.
That episode is separate from market demand, but it speaks to the same public anxiety: who housing is really for, and who gets left behind.
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The uncomfortable question: how long can it run?
Spain’s overall sales boom is undeniable, but so are the warning lights. The Registrars’ own figures have highlighted how rapid price rises can eventually cool activity if affordability collapses.
In Alicante, the market’s resilience comes from its international pull. That can keep sales high even when local demand weakens — but it also makes the province more exposed to policy shifts around foreign purchases, tax changes, and the wider European economic cycle.
Alicante’s boom in one sentence
Alicante isn’t just selling homes. It’s selling climate, mobility, and the promise of a Mediterranean life — and it’s doing so at a pace that increasingly shapes the daily reality for people who already live here.