Non-Resident Foreign Buyers in Spain Down 10% in 2025: What the Real Data Means for Costa Blanca

Spain recorded 126,981 total foreign property purchases in 2025, representing 18% of all residential sales nationally. This total is down modestly from peak years but remains within the range consistent with a healthy international market.

The split within that total is where the story gets interesting. Resident foreign buyers (expats with Spanish residency) completed 75,570 transactions in 2025 — up 4% year-on-year and the highest level in at least five years. These buyers are committed long-term residents who purchase homes for primary living rather than seasonal use or investment.

Non-resident foreign buyers (FNR), by contrast, completed 51,411 transactions — down 9.8% from 2024 and the lowest figure since 2021. This group includes British, German, Dutch, and Scandinavian buyers who maintain primary residence in their home countries and purchase Spanish property as a second home or rental investment.

Critically, the 51,411 FNR figure remains above the 10-year historical average and above pre-pandemic levels. The decline is a return to a more normal baseline after two exceptional years of post-lockdown pent-up demand, not a structural retreat from the market.

The most credible explanation for the non-resident FNR decline in 2025 is political uncertainty rather than economic fundamentals. Spain’s Prime Minister announced a proposal to impose a 100% additional property tax on non-EU, non-resident buyers in January 2025. While the proposal has stalled in parliament and has not become law — and may never do so, given the minority government’s difficulties securing coalition support — it created genuine hesitation among some northern European buyer groups.

British buyers, who are non-EU post-Brexit, were particularly affected by the announcement. Even with legal advisers explaining that new builds and off-plan purchases are exempt from the proposed tax (because they are subject to VAT, not transfer tax), the uncertainty caused some buyers to pause while monitoring parliamentary developments.

With the proposal now stalled in Congress and showing little sign of progressing in its current form, this political overhang is gradually lifting. Buyer enquiry data from agents across Costa Blanca suggests renewed confidence from British and northern European buyers in early 2026, which is consistent with a recovery in FNR transaction volumes as the year progresses.

Early 2026 indicators point to a recovery in non-resident foreign buyer activity. The 100% tax proposal has stalled in parliament. The EU Entry/Exit System launched in April 2026, increasing bureaucratic complexity for some buyers but also clarifying the rules — buyers now know exactly what the regulatory environment looks like rather than facing ongoing uncertainty.

BBVA’s forecast of 10.2% national price growth in 2026 implicitly assumes sustained foreign demand, including FNR activity at or above 2025 levels. If FNR volumes recover toward their 10-year average as political uncertainty fades, the demand picture for Costa Blanca becomes meaningfully more bullish than 2025’s cautious baseline.

For buyers who were waiting to see how the tax proposal played out, the current environment — with the proposal stalled and new builds structurally exempt even under the original proposal — provides a clear window. The buyers who hesitated in 2025 are re-entering a market that did not fall in their absence and now faces a more competitive environment.