Spain has long been a country popular with foreign property buyers, often looking to purchase holiday homes or homes to live in when they move here, and in fact there are some places where they far outnumber the number of local buyers.
The province where this happens the most is in Alicante, where in 2024 51% of all property transactions involved foreigners, including those purchasing with Spanish partners.
Surprisingly all these towns are not all located right on the coast but are all within easy reach of the Costa Blanca.
According to data from the Valencian Notarial College, purchases from foreigners in the province represented a total of €6 billion in 2024, bringing in significant income for the area.
The town of Teulada leads the way, where last year foreigners accounted for almost 87% of the 508 homes sold in the town, with Dutch, British, Belgian, and German buyers purchasing the most.
Orihuela was a close second with 84% of property transactions (4,534 out of 5,398) involving foreigners. Here British buyers bought the most, followed by Belgians and Poles – one of the markets that has grown the most in recent years, particularly following the outbreak of the conflict in Ukraine.
The third place goes to Calp with 78% of sales going to foreigners (909 of the 1161 homes sold). Next up is Torrevieja, which is the municipality with the highest number of properties bought by foreigners with 5,595 last year, representing 18% of the total purchased in the Alicante province. When it comes to percentages compared with national buyers, foreigners made up 77%
While these towns represent the most extreme numbers, there are many towns in the Alicante province where foreigners make up more than 50% of property purchases. In Santa Pola, they represent 51.1%; in Vila de Santa Pola, 52.6%; in Xàbia, 66.7%; in l’Alfàs, 67.9%; in Benissa, 68.2%; and in Altea, 68.8 %
This new data by the Valencian Notarial College comes at a time when the Spanish government is considering introducing a 100% property tax on property buyers who don’t reside in Spain or anywhere else in the European Union, a levy which would for example see non-resident British and American buyers have to pay double the price for a Spanish property.
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