Foreign Buyers Now Take Almost Half the Homes Sold in Alicante — and the North of the Costa Blanca Is Running Out of New Ones
A record 46.43% of Alicante home purchases went to foreign buyers in Q2 2026 — the highest share in Spain — just as the new-build shelf north of Benidorm empties.
Richard and Claire did everything the sensible way. The Manchester couple had watched a three-bedroom villa in the hills above Altea since April: they tracked the pound, secured a mortgage agreement in principle, waited for the right moment. In August they rang to make their offer. The villa had been sold two days earlier — to a family from Utrecht who had never set foot in it.
They are not unlucky. They are the statistic. Between April and June, foreign buyers took 15.98% of every home sold in Spain — the highest share ever recorded by the Colegio de Registradores, more than 26,800 purchases in a single quarter. In the province of Alicante the figure reaches 46.43%, the highest in the country: almost one of every two homes sold now goes to a foreign buyer, according to an analysis of the registry data by Legado Inmobiliaria, a Costa Blanca agency specialised in non-resident buyers.
The record was set in a shrinking market. Sales across Spain fell 5.7% in the quarter, the lowest count in seven quarters — while the average price climbed to €2,487/m², an all-time high, up 16.7% in a year. In Alicante, the valuation firm Tinsa puts the rise at 13.5% year on year. Fewer homes changed hands; more of them went abroad, at higher prices than ever.
A four-bedroom villa in Altea, delivery 2025 — one of ten active developments left in the town. From our current portfolio.
North of Benidorm, the shelf is nearly bare
The squeeze is sharpest where foreign demand has always concentrated. Of the 527 new-build developments Legado Inmobiliaria currently markets or tracks along the coast, the south still has depth: 122 active developments in Torrevieja, 85 in Finestrat. North of Benidorm, the numbers read like a countdown: eleven in Jávea, ten in Dénia, ten in Altea, eight between Teulada and Moraira.
| Town | Active new-build developments |
|---|---|
| Torrevieja | 122 |
| Finestrat | 85 |
| Calpe | 55 |
| Benidorm | 15 |
| Jávea | 11 |
| Dénia | 10 |
| Altea | 10 |
| Teulada–Moraira | 8 |
Legado Inmobiliaria portfolio, 25 August 2026. Figures refer to developments actively marketed or tracked by the agency, not a census of the whole market.
“The buyer who calls us in September is no longer choosing between developments. They are choosing between the units that are left.”
— Pedro Torres, CEO, Legado Inmobiliaria (RAICV 6440)
The door doesn't slam. It gets more expensive every time it swings
The price lists tell the same story. In the past 30 days, developers raised the starting price in 92 of those 527 developments — an average jump of almost 20% among those that moved. In most cases this is not a price rise in the ordinary sense: the cheapest homes sold first and simply vanished from the list. What remains is dearer by definition. Nor is money offering relief: the 12-month Euribor stood at 2.99% on 24 August, and its August average is on course to be the highest monthly figure of 2026 for non-resident mortgages.
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Prices are set by the developer and rise as construction progresses — today's price is the lowest.
Europe is pushing from behind
What drives the record is visible less in Spain than in the buyers' own countries. Dutch and German clients arrive citing their housing markets at home; British clients cite tax, weather and the cost of staying put. At Legado Inmobiliaria, enquiries about non-resident mortgages have multiplied sevenfold since the spring across its four main markets. Spain's own figures point the same way: new-build sales rose 6.3% year on year in June, according to the INE, while resales barely moved at +0.3%.
“Five years ago our client was buying a second residence. Today they are buying a way out.”
— Pedro Torres, CEO, Legado Inmobiliaria
Three-bedroom villa in the hills of Altea, delivery 2026. From our current portfolio.
Richard and Claire did, in the end, buy: a four-bedroom villa a few streets higher up the same hillside, reserved before it reached the portals, after they handed their search to a buyer's agent — a figure most British buyers still discover late. They collect the keys in the autumn, and by then, if the registry series holds its course, the province will have crossed the line the headline only flirts with: one home in two.
The difference between May and August was not the market. It was who was watching it for them.
Reporting note: sales and share data from the Colegio de Registradores, Estadística Registral Inmobiliaria, Q2 2026. Transaction data from the INE, June 2026. Valuations from Tinsa, July 2026. Euribor from EMMI, August 2026. Portfolio and price-list figures refer to the 527 developments marketed or tracked by Legado Inmobiliaria on the Costa Blanca as of 25 August 2026 and are not a census of the market. Richard and Claire are a composite drawn from buyer cases handled by the agency; names and details identify no specific client. Legado Inmobiliaria is a registered estate agency (RAICV nº 6440) based in Benidorm, led by Pedro Torres, specialised in new-build sales and buyer representation for non-resident clients.
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