Foreign demand for property in Spain fell by 13% in the first half of 2026, with second-home buyers leading the decline and every major foreign market contracting together for the first time. The latest figures from the notaries confirm that the international market is losing momentum.

The latest figures from the Association of Spanish Notaries show that foreign buyers purchased 62,327 homes in Spain during the first half of 2026 (H1), down 13% compared to the same period last year, when purchases reached 71,625.

This was a significantly worse performance than the Spanish market as a whole, where sales fell by 8.4% to 341,283 transactions. Purchases by Spanish nationals declined by 7.3% to 278,956.

As a result, the foreign share of the Spanish housing market fell to 18.3%, compared to 19.2% a year earlier and a peak of 21.3% in H1 2023.

Foreign demand has now fallen to its lowest first-half level in five years after declining for two consecutive halves.

Second-home buyers lead the decline

The downturn was particularly pronounced amongst foreign non-residents, typically buyers of second homes and holiday properties, whose purchases fell by 18% to 22,940 transactions.

Foreign residents, or expats living in Spain at the time of purchase, also pulled back, with purchases declining by 9.7% to 39,387 transactions.

This distinction matters because the two segments respond to different economic forces. Non-resident buyers are generally more discretionary, with decisions influenced by economic confidence, exchange rates, property prices and the attractions of owning a second home abroad.

The sharper decline in this segment suggests that international second-home demand is particularly vulnerable to the changing market conditions.

All the main foreign markets in retreat

The weakness was widespread, with purchases declining in every major foreign market covered by the latest figures.

The British remained the biggest foreign buyer group, purchasing 4,541 homes, but their purchases fell by 21% compared to H1 last year.

Italian buyers moved into second place with 4,109 purchases, down a more moderate 9.7%, followed by Germans with 3,907 transactions (-18.2%) and the Dutch with 3,880 (-7.6%). Note that Italian buyers are mainly Argentines with dual-nationality.

The French market contracted by 17.8%, whilst Belgian purchases fell by 21.3%. American demand recorded the biggest decline amongst the markets shown, down 22%, despite the growing visibility of US buyers in parts of Spain in recent years.

The relatively better performers included Norway (-1.2%), Poland (-6.6%) and the Netherlands (-7.6%). However, none of the main markets managed to grow.

A broad-based slowdown

The latest notary figures confirm that the cooling of foreign demand is no longer confined to a handful of nationalities or regions. It is a broad-based downturn, with international buyers retreating faster than their Spanish counterparts.

Although foreign purchases remain well above the levels seen before the pandemic in several markets, the combination of falling transaction volumes and a particularly sharp decline in non-resident demand suggests that the post-pandemic boom in foreign buying has decisively run out of steam.

For foreign property owners considering selling, the figures also highlight the importance of understanding local market conditions and the nationalities driving demand in their area. Foreign buyers remain an important part of the Spanish property market, but there are now fewer of them competing for homes than a year ago.

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