Foreign buyers are continuing to pile into Spain’s property market despite an overall slowdown in home sales, with international purchases jumping by around 11% in the space of a year.

New figures from the College of Property Registrars, analysed by property firm Sonneil, show that foreigners completed more than 26,800 home purchases between April and June 2026.

That came as total property sales across Spain actually fell by 2.3% year-on-year, with 167,934 transactions recorded during the second quarter.

The contrasting figures mean foreigners accounted for a record 15.98% of all property purchases in Spain, up from 14.10% during the same period last year.

Meanwhile, purchases by Spanish nationals fell from around 147,000 in the second quarter of 2025 to approximately 141,100 this year, representing a decline of almost 4%.

The strongest growth among foreign buyers came from nationalities more commonly associated with living permanently in Spain and purchasing a primary residence.

Purchases by Romanians increased by 24%, those by Moroccans by 20%, while buyers from South American countries surged by 42%.

By comparison, purchases associated with the second-home market increased by a more modest 3.3%.

‘The international buyer is demonstrating greater resilience at a time of slight adjustment in the market,’ said Sonneil CEO Andres Pedrera.

He said Spain remained particularly attractive to international purchasers in coastal destinations offering a combination of quality of life, transport connections, services and housing geared towards foreign buyers.

Dutch buyers closing in on Brits

One of the most striking changes is the rapid rise of buyers from the Netherlands, who are now within touching distance of overtaking the British as Spain’s biggest foreign property buyers by volume.

Dutch nationals completed 1,830 purchases during the second quarter, an increase of 20.2% compared with the same period of 2025.

That was also 14.1% higher than during the first three months of this year.

British buyers, traditionally the dominant foreign nationality in Spain’s property market, completed 1,843 transactions.

That means just 13 purchases separated the British and Dutch markets during the quarter.

While Dutch purchases surged by more than 20%, British activity was virtually flat, rising by just 0.7% year-on-year.

Britons nevertheless remained narrowly in first place, accounting for 6.99% of foreign purchases compared with 6.94% for Dutch nationals.

Germany followed with 1,612 transactions, representing annual growth of 3.8%.

Purchases by French nationals increased by 7.9% and Polish buyers by 7.8%.

At the other end of the table, Belgian purchases plunged by 17.6%, while Russian demand fell 5.4% and Swedish purchases dropped 2.9%.

‘The Dutch case is particularly representative of how the map of second homes in Spain is changing,’ Pedrera said.

‘The United Kingdom continues to be the leading market, but the sustained growth of the Netherlands is rapidly reducing a gap that historically had been very wide.’

Foreigners behind 37% of Malaga property purchases

The international buying boom is particularly pronounced on Spain’s Mediterranean coast, and Malaga is one of the biggest beneficiaries.

Foreigners purchased 3,474 properties in Malaga province between April and June, representing a massive 20.79% increase compared with the same quarter of 2025.

International buyers were responsible for 37.01% of every home sold in Malaga province during the period.

Their share of the market has increased by 3.72 percentage points in just one year.

It gives Malaga the second-highest proportion of foreign buyers of any Spanish province, with Alicante only ahead.

There, international buyers completed 5,710 transactions during the second quarter.

An extraordinary 46.43% of all properties sold in Alicante province were bought by foreigners, up 3.13 percentage points compared with a year earlier.

The figures underline the increasingly important role international demand is playing in Spain’s major coastal property markets, even as the wider national market cools.

‘The evolution of Alicante and Malaga confirms that the weight of the international buyer is now structural in Spain’s major second-home destinations,’ Pedrera said.

‘In a market that is increasingly diversified by nationality, the Mediterranean coast continues to have a distinctive ability to attract European buyers over the long term.’

Read more Andalucia news at the Spanish Eye.