Mark Stücklin
Heads-up: new foreign buyer data for Q3 2025 has just landed, and it shows a clear split emerging within overseas demand for Spanish property.
The latest figures from the Housing Ministry show that 170,656 homes were sold in Spain in Q3 2025, broadly flat year-on-year and still well above the ten-year average. At first glance, it looks like business as usual.
Look closer at foreign demand, however, and a more interesting picture emerges. Foreign buyers purchased 28,725 homes in the quarter, a fall of 6.6% compared to a year earlier. Their market share slipped to 16.8%, down from 18.5% in Q3 2024. Compared to the ten-year average, foreign demand remains elevated, but momentum has clearly weakened.
The plunge in non-resident buyers
The overall decline was driven almost entirely by foreign non-resident (FNR) buyers, typically purchasing second homes. This group bought 11,547 properties in Q3, a sharp year-on-year fall of 15.7%. In index terms, FNR demand is now only marginally above its ten-year average, a notable comedown after several very strong years.
By contrast, resident foreign buyers – expats living in Spain – were remarkably resilient. Expat buyers purchased 17,178 homes, virtually unchanged year-on-year, with a small increase of 0.7%. Their demand sits more than 30% above the ten-year average, underlining that people moving to Spain to live full-time remain committed to the market.
In short, fewer holiday-home buyers, but expats are still showing up.
Year-to-date: decline accelerating
Looking at the first three quarters of 2025 together, overall foreign demand is down just 1% year-to-date. That modest figure reflects a stronger first half of the year, masking a deterioration as 2025 has progressed. Q3 suggests that the slowdown is gathering pace rather than stabilising.
One possible explanation lies in politics rather than property fundamentals. In the first quarter of the year, the Spanish government made repeated statements about wanting to discriminate against non-resident buyers from outside the EU. British and American buyers – the largest groups in this segment – may have taken the hint. Even without concrete measures in place, political noise can be enough to cool sentiment, particularly for discretionary second-home purchases.
What to watch next
If this divergence continues, Spain’s foreign market will become increasingly dependent on expat demand rather than lifestyle-driven second-home buyers. That would have implications for where demand concentrates, the type of property in demand, and pricing dynamics in classic holiday hotspots.
For now, the message from Q3 is clear: foreign demand hasn’t collapsed, but it has fractured – and the cracks are widest among non-resident buyers.
