# Foreign Investment in Spanish Property 2025: The Nationality Ranking

> Foreign buyers registered close to 97,300 Spanish home purchases in 2025, 13.8% of the national market. The British lead the latest quarterly ranking at 7.93% of foreign purchases, the Dutch have edged past the Germans, and in Alicante province foreigners took 42.91% of everything sold.

Published: 2026-07-27
Updated: 2026-07-27
Author: Erick Kit
Canonical: https://wesnagroup.com/blog/foreign-investment-spain-property-2025-ranking
License: CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
Cite as: Wesna Group, "Foreign Investment in Spanish Property 2025: The Nationality Ranking", wesnagroup.com

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Foreign buyers registered close to 97,300 Spanish home purchases in 2025, 13.8% of the national market, according to the Colegio de Registradores. British buyers led the fourth-quarter ranking at 7.93% of foreign transactions, with the Dutch edging past the Germans into second. Alicante province sits far above that: foreigners took nearly 43% of everything sold there.

## The 2025 ranking by nationality

The [Estadística Registral Inmobiliaria for the fourth quarter of 2025](https://www.registradores.org/documents/d/guest/eri_4t_2025) closed the year with a very tight top six. Foreigners took 13.52% of all purchases in that quarter, a shade under the annual 13.8%, and under three percentage points separate first place from sixth.

| Rank | Nationality | Share of foreign purchases, Q4 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | British | 7.93% |
| 2 | Dutch | 6.77% |
| 3 | German | 6.65% |
| 4 | Moroccan | 5.78% |
| 5 | Romanian | 5.45% |
| 6 | Italian | 5.32% |

The order moves from quarter to quarter. In the first quarter of 2025 the Germans sat second on 6.4% and the Dutch third on 6.0%, so the Dutch lead at the close of the year is worth about a tenth of a point. By region of origin, EU passports accounted for roughly 57% of foreign purchases, the rest of Europe 18%, Africa around 9%, Asia close to 7% and South America under 6%.

Two of those six describe a different market from the one most of our readers are in. Moroccan and Romanian buyers are overwhelmingly Spanish residents who work here and buy primary homes, mostly inland: the Murcian agricultural belt, the Vega Baja, the industrial ring around Barcelona. Strip resident buyers out of the count and the order rearranges.

One caution on sourcing. The Consejo General del Notariado counted [66,629 foreign purchases in the second half of 2025 alone, 18.4% of all home sales](https://www.notariado.org/portal/-/la-compraventa-de-vivienda-por-extranjeros-disminuy%C3%B3-un-4-4-interanual), down from 19.5% a year earlier. The notaries measure at signing and the registrars at inscription, and the two bodies draw the boundary of "foreign" differently. Neither series is wrong, but a Notariado percentage set next to a Registradores one produces nonsense. We unpack the gap in our [breakdown of the 2025 transaction data](/blog/who-buys-property-spain-2025-transaction-data).

## Alicante takes 42.91% of everything sold

Provincial numbers matter far more here than the national one.

| Province | Foreign share of home purchases, Q4 2025 |
|---|---|
| Alicante | 42.91% |
| Illes Balears | 31.47% |
| Málaga | 31.11% |
| Santa Cruz de Tenerife | 26.44% |
| Girona | 24.80% |
| Murcia | 20.74% |
| Las Palmas | 20.31% |
| Almería | 16.69% |
| Tarragona | 16.11% |
| Spain, national | 13.52% |

Alicante has run at roughly three times the national rate for a decade, and 2025 widened the gap rather than closing it. Within the province the concentration is sharper still. In the southern belt around Torrevieja and [Orihuela Costa](/catalog?city=orihuela-costa&deal=sale), some urbanisations are close to nine foreign owners in ten. Murcia's 20.74% comes from the same buyers spilling south into Los Alcázares and San Pedro del Pinatar.

Ukrainian buyers do not appear in the top six, but they hold a steady presence in the Vega Baja and around Torrevieja. Our [guide for Ukrainian buyers](/blog/ukrainians-buying-property-spain-2026) covers residence status and the paperwork that goes with it.

### The risk that concentration creates

Concentration cuts both ways at resale. Where non-residents hold most of the titles in a development, sterling, Dutch mortgage rates and German consumer confidence set your buyer pool rather than Spanish wages, and a thin pool moves fast in both directions. Visit in February, when half the flats are shuttered and the community budget still has to cover the pool, before you sign anything.

## Volume rank is not value rank

The notaries' price data splits the market more usefully than any nationality league table. In the second half of 2025, non-resident foreigners paid an average of EUR 3,242 per m2. Resident foreigners paid EUR 1,963 and Spanish buyers EUR 1,839. A non-resident pays roughly 76% more per square metre than a domestic buyer inside the same headline statistic.

Count non-residents only and the ranking rearranges: the Dutch take roughly 12% of those purchases, the Germans and the British around 11% to 12% each, the Belgians about 8%. They register fewer transactions than the headline table implies and they buy at much higher prices, mostly on the northern Costa Blanca.

Our own book sits in the same band. Across 720 live sale apartments the median is EUR 319,900, and across 279 houses EUR 459,000. That is where the non-resident money lands, in properties like [WES-2318C, an 84 m2 two-bedroom apartment in Calpe at EUR 373,730](/property/wes-2318c) or [WES-2453B, a 93 m2 three-bedroom in Sierra Cortina, Benidorm, at EUR 475,000](/property/wes-2453b).

Buying into that bracket in 2026 has a predictable shape. Banks lend a non-resident 60% to 70% of the lower of price or valuation, so size the deposit before you shortlist anything, using our [non-resident mortgage guide](/blog/mortgage-for-non-residents-spain). Add 11% to 14% on top of the price for tax, notary, registry and legal work, set out in [the total cost of buying](/blog/total-cost-of-buying-property-spain). If the property sits empty for part of the year, you still owe imputed income tax through [Modelo 210](/blog/modelo-210-non-resident-tax-spanish-property-2026), rented or not.

Residency does not come with the purchase. Spain abolished the Golden Visa in April 2025, and buying property grants no permit today. The routes that work now are the Non-Lucrative Visa, the Digital Nomad Visa and the Beckham regime, compared in [what replaced the Golden Visa](/blog/what-replaced-golden-visa-spain-2025-2026-alternatives-2026-06-24).

## Next steps

Pick one town and check what it actually holds before reading another market report. Our Torrevieja listings run to 126 properties today, the largest stock we carry. [Open the Torrevieja shortlist](/catalog?city=torrevieja&deal=sale) or call +34 744 64 42 28.