In the first half of 2026, foreign citizens purchased 51,627 residential properties in Spain, which is approximately 4% more than during the same period last year and marks the highest figure in the history of relevant statistics from Spanish registries.
The second quarter proved to be the most active: foreigners concluded over 26,800 transactions, and their share of all registered residential property purchases reached 15.98%—a historic high, according to data from the Colegio de Registradores de España.
At the same time, the overall Spanish housing market, on the contrary, cooled slightly in the second quarter. The number of transactions fell by 5.7% compared to the previous quarter—to 167,934 thousand, with sales of new-construction properties dropping by 11.5% to 34,919 thousand. Thus, foreign demand strengthened against the backdrop of declining overall buyer activity.
British citizens remained the largest group of foreign buyers in the first half of the year. They purchased 3,567 properties, though the number of transactions fell by approximately 10% year-over-year.
Dutch citizens were close behind, with 3,489 purchases—a 12% increase compared to the first half of 2025. The gap between the two largest groups was just 78 transactions. In the second quarter alone, British buyers concluded 1,843 transactions, while Dutch buyers concluded 1,830.
Official statistics for the second quarter show that British buyers accounted for 6.99% of all foreign transactions, while Dutch citizens accounted for 6.94%. Germans came in third with a share of 6.11%.
Germany retained its third place among the largest foreign markets, although demand from German buyers declined slightly over the first half of the year—by approximately 2%. At the same time, the number of purchases by Italian citizens rose by 11%, by Polish citizens—also by 11%, by French citizens—by 3%, and by Irish citizens—by 6%. Belgian demand, on the other hand, fell by approximately 16%.
Thus, the structure of foreign demand in Spain is becoming increasingly diversified. Ten years ago, British buyers were significantly ahead of other nationalities, whereas now the gap between the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Germany, and the next group of European buyers has narrowed considerably. In the first quarter of 2026, for example, British and Dutch buyers accounted for 6.82% and 6.56% of foreign purchases, respectively.
The most detailed official report from the Colegio de Registradores for the first quarter of 2026 shows that Ukrainians ranked 10th among foreign buyers, accounting for 3.08% of all foreign real estate transactions; Ukrainian citizens accounted for approximately 765 purchases over the three-month period.
In terms of the number of transactions at the start of the year, Ukrainians trailed behind the British, Dutch, Moroccans, Germans, Italians, French, Romanians, Poles, and Belgians, but outpaced citizens of China, Sweden, Ireland, the United States, and Russia.
By comparison, Chinese nationals accounted for 2.69% of foreign purchases, while Russians accounted for only 1.44%. Thus, the share of Ukrainians was more than twice that of Russians.
The full official report for the first half of the year, broken down by nationality, has not yet been presented in the registrars’ brief press release; therefore, the exact number of purchases made by Ukrainians over the six-month period should be interpreted with caution. If the share remains at around 3%, this could amount to approximately 1,500 transactions for January–June; however, this is an estimated figure, not a separately published official statistic.
The opposite trend is observed among Russian citizens. In the first half of the year, Russians purchased fewer than 1,000 properties, and the number of transactions fell by more than 20% year-over-year.
In the second quarter, the share of foreign buyers reached 32.27% in the Balearic Islands and 31.03% in the Valencian Community. At the same time, the share of foreign buyers increased in all of the country’s autonomous communities.
In the first quarter, a high concentration of foreign demand was also observed in the Canary Islands—22.78% of transactions—and in the Murcia region—21.73%. In the province of Alicante, foreigners accounted for about 44.7% of home sales, and in Málaga—more than a third.
Overall, over the past 12 months, foreign citizens have purchased approximately 99,400 residential properties in Spain, meaning the market has come very close to the 100,000-mark for foreign transactions per year.
The growth in international demand is occurring alongside a rapid rise in real estate prices. The average registered housing price in the second quarter reached a new all-time high of 2,487 euros per square meter, increasing by 2.4% quarter-over-quarter and 9.2% year-over-year. The resale index showed even more significant year-over-year growth—16.7%.
Thus, despite a decline in the total number of transactions in Spain, foreign demand continues to strengthen. At the same time, the market is becoming less dependent on traditional British and German buyers: the role of the Netherlands, Poland, and a number of other European countries is growing, while Ukrainians remain among the most prominent nationalities in the Spanish real estate market.
