Foreign demand for Spanish property has surged to new highs, with seven nationalities registering record numbers of home purchases in the first half of 2025, according to the latest figures from Spain’s notaries.
Buyers from the US, Portugal, Ukraine, Italy, Morocco, Colombia and the Netherlands collectively acquired 20,364 homes between January and June.
That figure represents almost 29% of all transactions made by foreigners (71,155). Compared with the first half of 2007, their combined volume has nearly quadrupled.
Among the record-setting group, Moroccan nationals carried out the highest number of purchases, with 5,654 transactions – making them the second-largest foreign buying group overall, narrowly behind the British (5,731), reports Idealista.
Italy and the Netherlands followed, each surpassing 4,100 purchases, placing them fourth and sixth respectively in the wider ranking of foreign buyers.
Ukrainian citizens recorded 2,165 acquisitions – their highest yet – while US buyers exceeded 1,500 transactions for the first time. Portugal and Colombia rounded out the list with just over 1,100 operations each.
In terms of growth, Portugal registered the sharpest year-on-year rise, with transactions up 22.8%. The Netherlands (18.6%) and the US (14.3%) also posted strong increases.
All seven nationalities grew above the foreign-buyer average of 2%, including:
- Colombia: +6.6%
- Ukraine: +4.5%
- Italy: +3.7%
- Morocco: +3.3%
How US buyers spend the most
Where spending is concerned, US buyers topped the price ranking, paying an average of €3,465 per m2.
That is the highest of all foreign nationalities and above the averages for Swiss, Swedish, Norwegian and German buyers.
At the upper end also sit:
- Netherlands: €2,574/m2
- Italy: €2,566/m2
The average paid by foreigners overall stands at €2,417/m2.
By contrast, Moroccan buyers, despite being the second-biggest foreign group, paid the lowest average price: €747/m2 the only nationality below €1,000.
Most foreign buyers already live in Spain
The notarial data shows that foreign residents account for the majority of purchases: 60.9% (43,306 transactions), up 6.4% year-on-year. Non-resident buyers carried out the remaining 39.1%, down 4.1%.
This pattern also holds across the seven record-setting nationalities. Of their 20,364 transactions, 14,962 were made by residents and 5,402 by non-residents.
Two notable exceptions: Dutch and American buyers
Non-residents dominated only in two nationalities:
- Netherlands: 3,144 non-resident vs. 1,022 resident purchases
- United States: 829 non-resident vs. 735 resident purchases
Both groups show strong demand from buyers who do not live in Spain full-time — a trend often linked to high-end second homes and lifestyle migration.
