Who’s buying and where in Spain

The Spanish Notaries Association has released housing purchase figures for 2025. Although house prices are still on the increase and the market is buoyant, there are some trends emerging in the profile of who is buying and where.

In 2025 there were 138,254 property purchases made in Spain by a foreign buyer. This is just a slight decrease of 0.6% in comparison to the figures for 2024. Although there might have been a slight reduction in the number of foreigners buying, the market still remains healthy and shows Spain’s continued popularity post pandemic.

Who is buying?

British buyers still remain the largest market making 10,925 purchases. Germans are in second place with 9,126 and Italy third with 8,948. Although the British remain the most eager to buy in Spain, the overall numbers have dropped by 8.3%. The nationality which is seeing a sweep of new purchases is the Dutch market. The number of Dutch buyers increased by 12.3% on the previous year making 8,354 purchases altogether.

Other nationalities increasing their percentage included Italy (6.5% more), USA (3.5% more) and the Ukraine (2.4% more). Many traditional buyers fell slightly including Ireland (-1.5%), France (-2.5%), Germany (-2.5%), Switzerland (-3.1%) and Sweden (-3.4%).

What is particularly notable is the fall in the Russian market with a 22% reduction in the number of house purchases made. Other nationalities showing a significant drop included Poland (-8.8%), China (-9.8%), Norway (-10.8%) and Belgium (11.3%).

Where are they buying?

The Valencian Community remains at the top of the list with 39,338 purchases. This is just below 29% of the foreign market. In second place is Andalusia with 29,947 and coming in third is Catalonia with 22,465. Both Andalusia and Catalonia saw an increase in their market share, increasing by 1.5% and 4.3% respectively.  Whereas the Valencian Community in fact saw a drop of 5% from the previous year.

The markets in greatest decline were those of Madrid (-9%), the Canary Islands and the Balearic Islands. Galicia, on the other hand, saw a rise in popularity with an increase of 12%.

Messages for the future?

The good news remains that Spain is still a very popular country in which to buy a holiday home or to move to. Trends in the nationality of foreign buyers may reflect political and legislative changes, such as Brexit but, it seems, there is always another country where interest is on the increase.