Spanish home sales up by nearly 14% in February 2025

RESIDENTIAL property sales were up again in February for the eighth month in a row in almost every region in Spain, especially among newly-built homes, according to official government figures.

The most recent monthly data set available, February saw nearly 60,000 homes change hands – a year-on-year rise of 13.9% - says the National Statistics Institute (INE).

This is the second-highest figure for the month of February since the record 72,000 in 2007, at the height of the housing boom.

Although pre-owned homes have always made up the majority of sales – in this case, just under 48,000 – the number of new builds purchased in February soared to levels not seen in 12 years.

Almost 14,000 brand-new homes were bought that month, representing the highest February figure since 2013 and an annual increase of 21.5%.

Pre-owned property sales rose by 11.8% on numbers for February 2024.

Around 4,000 purchases – 6.7% of the total and including both new and previously-occupied homes - were government-subsidised Viviendas de Protección Oficial ('Officially-Protected Homes', or VPOs), representing an annual rise of 5.6% in this category.

Total home sales from the start of 2025 up to the end of February were up 12.4% on the same two months in 2024, with new builds showing growth of 26.1% and second-hand properties of 8.8%.

Regions with highest home sales growth

All regions in Spain showed year-on-year growth in property sales in February 2025, except Navarra, which experienced a fall of 26.7% on results from February 2024.

In terms of numbers of homes sold, the southern region of Andalucía led the ranking, with 11,690 properties switching owners, followed by Catalunya (9,796), the Comunidad Valenciana (9,454), and Madrid (6,963).

But in percentage terms, the highest growth was largely seen in northern parts – Asturias, with sales increasing by 33.6%, saw the most significant changes since February 2024, along with La Rioja (24.1%), Cantabria, and the central region of Castilla-La Mancha (both 22%). The only geographical exception was Andalucía, with the third-greatest rise (24%).

Despite being third from top in numbers of sales, the Comunidad Valenciana saw the lowest inter-annual growth, at just 3.6%, behind Galicia (3.9%), the Canary Islands (7.6%), and Madrid (9.9%).

Falling interest rates boost sales

Estate agencies and financial analysts attribute the sales volume increase, in part, to the gradual reduction of the Eurozone interest rate, or Euribor. From its peak of 4.149% in September 2023, rates had dropped to a monthly average of 2.526% by the beginning of 2025, making mortgages cheaper.

February's rate averaged 2.402%, and April's is expected to close at 2.179%. Consequently, although the actual loan amounts have gone up considerably in just over a year, borrowers are paying less per month.

Rising by 8.6% in 2024 – the greatest leap since records began – the average mortgage in Spain now sits at €171,202, as property prices hit their highest national average that year at €2,086 per square metre.

Despite sales rocketing, homeowners are tending to keep their properties for longer, which would appear contrary to the trend: In 2024, the average seller had owned their home for 17.7 years before putting it on the market. Up by 2.3% on 2023, length of pre-sale ownership has been consistently rising since the historic low of 7.3 years in 2009, just after the early-Millennium property 'bubble' burst.

Foreigner buyers' impact on property sales figures

Another, smaller, influence in rising sales is ongoing interest among foreign buyers, who accounted for 93,000 property purchases in 2024 – up from 87,400 in the preceding year – out of a national total of 636,909.

In numbers, this translates to a 6.4% hike on sales to non-Spaniards in 2023, but the proportion reduced to 14.6% of total transactions in 2024 from the previous year's record high of 15%.

Contrary to previous trends, though, Spanish buyers outnumbered foreigners in new-build purchases – 21.l% next to 20.1%.

Regions and provinces with the most non-Spanish homebuyers

Foreign buyers mainly targeted the coasts, according to the College of Registrars' 2024 annual Propery Registry Statistics report.

The province with the highest proportion of foreigners among total property sales was Alicante, at 43.8%, followed by Santa Cruz de Tenerife (33.1%). The Balearic Islands, a single-province region, saw the third-largest proportion of non-Spanish buyers in terms of provinces, at 32.6%, but topped the list in terms of regions, beating the Comunidad Valenciana (28.9%); the Canary Islands (27.2%); Catalunya (16.3%), and Andalucía (14%).

Percentages of property sales last year to foreigners were also high in the provinces of Málaga (32.4%); Girona (27.1%), Las Palmas (22.3%); Almería (19.8%), and Tarragona (16.9%) - and in the single-province region of Murcia (23.6%), which was fourth from top in the regional ranking, behind the Canary Islands and ahead of Catalunya.

Non-residents spend more than residents on Spanish homes

Foreigners not living in Spain are increasingly seeking high-end properties: A total of 10.8% of them paid at least a half a million euros for a home, compared with 9.7% in 2023.

The trend may change from 2025 onwards, now that Spain's government has axed the'golden visa' scheme offering automatic resident rights to non-EU citizens spending €500,000 or more on property. But any difference is likely to be subtle since, in recent years, around 55-60% foreigners paying upwards of this amount were EU nationals.

Non-resident overseas buyers typically opt for more expensive homes than residents of any nationality, including Spanish citizens. In 2024, they paid an average of €3,063 per square metre for their property, whilst expatriate residents in Spain – who made up the majority of foreign purchasers, or 58.1% - paid similar prices to Spanish buyers (€1,795 and €1,713 per square metre respectively).

US nationals paid the highest prices (€3,390 per square metre), followed by Swedish citizens (€3,295) and Germans (€3,224).

Where Spain's foreign homebuyers are from

Non-EU citizens have made up the majority of foreign buyers for two years - 52.6% in 2024 and 51.4% in 2023 - a proportion that has been climbing annually, and more markedly following Brexit. Before the UK left the European Union in January 2021, non-EU nationals accounted for between 34-36% of overseas property purchasers.

Although they have fallen from 24% to 8.7% since Brexit, Brits remain the largest national buyer group across the board, and the largest non-resident buyer group.

Only around 39% of UK citizens who purchase property in Spain live there full time, or intend to – in fact, Brits do not even make it into the top 10 among resident foreign purchasers.

Other than the British, the largest non-EU national buyer group is Moroccan, whilst the biggest EU-citizen market is Germany.

Discounting non-resident foreign buyers, the main national groups are Moroccan, Romanian and Italian.

More mortgages for non-Spanish homebuyers

Whilst the vast majority of non-Spaniards purchase their properties in cash, a significant annual rise in foreigners buying with a mortgage has been reported. Although they only accounted for 7.5% of home loans taken out in 2024, this represented an increase of 13.1% on the previous year.

Across the board and irrespective of nationality or residence status, just over 60% of homes in Spain are bought without needing a mortgage.

In the Balearics, foreigners accounted for 15.6% of mortgages contracted to buy homes, which roughly translates to half of all property sales to non-Spaniards.

A similar split was seen in Murcia – foreigners were behind 23.6% of homes sold and 11.3% of new mortgages in 2024 – and in the Comunidad Valenciana, where 28.9% of property sales and 12.6% of mortgages contracted involved people born abroad.

The proportion of non-Spanish buyers with a mortgage was highest in Catalunya – 16.3% of properties were sold to, and 11.6% of mortgages contracted by, foreigners.

Sums borrowed by foreign property buyers were highest in the Balearic Islands, averaging €366,830 – well above those in Madrid (€235,277), and Andalucía (€208,511), and more than double those in Catalunya (€178,287) and the Basque Country (€144,030).

Buying property in Spain as an existing foreign resident is no different to doing so as a Spanish national, although a little more is involved for non-resident foreigners. That said, the process is relatively straightforward and help is easy to find – Spain has been selling homes to overseas-based buyers for decades. To prepare yourself, we recommend taking a look at our step-by-step guide to buying property in Spain as a foreigner.