Foreign buyers accounted for a record 16.05% of home sales in Spain between July and September, new figures show.
Britons remained the biggest group, particularly in Malaga, where international buyers were behind almost four in 10 purchases.
More than 26,300 homes were bought by foreign nationals in the third quarter of 2026, according to Spain’s property registrars.
That was around 500 fewer than the previous quarter’s record of 26,836, but still the third-highest figure on record.
The foreign share rose as the wider market slowed, with 164,148 home sales registered nationwide in the third consecutive quarterly decline.
British buyers snapped up 1,943 homes, accounting for 7.5% of all purchases by foreign nationals.
They were followed by Moroccans with 1,652, Dutch buyers with 1,515, Germans with 1,481 and Romanians with 1,478.
Buyers from EU countries accounted for just over half of foreign purchases.
Alicante led the provincial rankings, with foreign buyers behind 46.5% of more than 12,000 sales.
Malaga followed at 38.8%, ahead of the Balearic Islands at 37.2%.
In Almeria, the figure was 21%, compared with 16.2% across Andalucía as a whole.
Prices hit a new high as sales slow
Meanwhile, Spain’s average registered sale price reached a record €2,512 per square metre, up 9.3% on the same period last year.
New homes averaged €2,701 per square metre, while resale properties averaged €2,462.
Malaga was the fifth most expensive province in Spain at €3,400 per square metre.
Madrid topped the ranking at €4,565, followed by the Balearic Islands at €4,502 and the Basque provinces of Gipuzkoa and Bizkaia at €4,372 and €3,526 respectively.
