A staggering 40 percent of all the properties sold to foreigners in Spain in the first half of 2022 were just in the Costa Blanca and other parts of Alicante province, crowning it the residential tourism capital of Spain.

It may be common knowledge that foreigners love the Costa Blanca, but new data reveals just how popular it is with second-home owners from overseas.

During the first six months of 2022, 40 percent of homes sold to foreign buyers in Spain were in Alicante province, where the Costa Blanca is located.

The Costa del Sol, in Málaga province in southern Spain, accounted for 24 percent of foreign property purchases in the country over the same period.

Such is the popularity of the Costa Blanca for overseas property hunters that if you add up all the sales to foreigners in the Costa de Valencia, Costa Cálida (Murcia), Costa Brava (Catalonia) and the Balearic Islands, they still represent a lower share than Alicante and the Costa Blanca alone (36 percent compared to 40 percent).

The figures were published by the Association of Real Estate Developers of the Province (Provia), which collected data from Spain’s Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda.

According to foreign property website Kyero; Calpe, Denia, Javea and Moraira are four of the most popular coastal towns for foreign buyers in Alicante, while property website Idealista revealed that Ciudad Quesada and Busot were the two most popular inland towns for foreign buyers in Alicante.

Foreigners are attracted to the Alicante province because of its great weather and miles of excellent beaches, of which there are a total of 74 Blue Flag beaches, selected for their great water quality.

They are also allured by the number of other foreigners in the area, meaning that there are more services aimed at foreigners, such as international schools and English-speaking businesses.

Alicante province is most favoured by British foreign residents and according to the latest data from Spain’s National Statistics Institute (INE) for 2022 there are a total of 75,263 Brits living in Alicante province.

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