Rental policy, foreign buyers, prices and housing-market regulation.
In the real estate market of Spain there was a turning point. According to the Federation of Associations of Realtors (FAI), sales fell by 7.3% in May from a year earlier, the sharpest drop since May 2024. Buyers are no longer in a hurry: t…
Read story →The regional government is preparing a new law that will allow municipalities to prohibit the purchase of apartments not for personal residence. The idea sounds noble: fighting speculators. In fact, it is a blow to those who buy old houses,…
Read story →According to their calculations, Spanish prices will rise by 9.1% this year, then by 7.4% in 2027 and 6.2% in 2028. This is the fastest growth rate among European countries. The reason is trivial: little is built, and demand is growing. Lac…
Read story →Volkswagen is considering laying off 100,000 employees and closing four factories in Germany. The entire sector is struggling with weak demand, Chinese competition in electric vehicles, and the painful transition away from internal combusti…
Read story →Dutch purchasers are acquiring Spanish real estate faster than any other nationality. In the first quarter of 2026, buyers from the Netherlands purchased 1,626 properties—a 5 per cent increase year-on-year. Meanwhile, overall foreign demand…
Read story →The Spanish government plans to approve a new housing package in July through Royal Decree-law. The scenario sounds familiar: in March, a similar decree (8/2026) introduced a two-year extension of rental contracts and capped annual rent inc…
Read story →Analysis by Idealista reveals that the market for homes priced above €3 million is dominated by five locations: the Golden Triangle of Costa del Sol (Marbella, Estepona, Benahavís), Calvià on Mallorca, and Madrid. Foreign buyers account for…
Read story →Spanish media outlets have renewed accusations that foreign investors are displacing local residents from coastal and island properties. On the Costa del Sol, in Alicante and across the Balearic Islands, one in two homes sold go to foreign …
Read story →Spain's Constitutional Court has agreed to hear a complaint from more than 50 opposition deputies against Catalonia's housing and planning law of 11/2025. The legislation extends price controls beyond long-term rentals to include seasonal l…
Read story →Spain's Supreme Court has annulled the national register for short-term lettings, but a battle over reimbursement is now underway. Property owners who paid registration fees are demanding compensation. The registry existed only briefly, but…
Read story →A new CostLiving study reveals that the average British family spends £37,353 per year, whilst their Spanish counterparts spend £24,598. That represents a 52 per cent difference, or nearly £13,000 annually. The most striking finding: the bu…
Read story →In Moraira, residents are locked in legal proceedings with local authorities over plans to build a waste-sorting facility in a residential area. Residents fear noise, lorry traffic, odours and a decline in property values. The municipal cou…
Read story →Last year, Barcelona's property market saw 15,960 apartments and houses sold. Growth was minimal, rising just 1% year-on-year. However, foreign buyers have set a new record, accounting for 25% of all transactions. This compares with 14-15% …
Read story →Neil purchased a house near Barcelona in 2005 for €289,000 at the peak of the Spanish property boom. When the crisis struck, he relocated to Germany and, unable to sell, was forced to let the property instead. His first tenants left him wit…
Read story →The Vox party has proposed extending the residency requirement from five to ten years for foreign nationals seeking long-term residence permits. Under current EU rules, five years of continuous residence in Spain is sufficient to qualify fo…
Read story →The first official data for 2026 reveals a cooling Spanish market, with demand from overseas buyers declining at the sharpest pace. In the first quarter, foreigners purchased 26,977 properties—a 17.6% drop compared with the same period last…
Read story →House prices in Spain are rising at 7% annually whilst sales are falling by 8–11%. The apparent paradox reflects critically tight housing supply, particularly in sought-after areas. Now a fresh headwind has emerged. The European Central Ban…
Read story →Spain's real-estate market has downshifted from turbo mode, with sales in the first quarter of 2026 declining 8% compared with the same period last year. Notaries have released fresh data showing 170,552 transactions concluded in Q1 2026. W…
Read story →France imposes additional taxes on second homes of up to 60 per cent, British county councils have doubled property taxes, and Wales could raise them by as much as 300 per cent. Spain, meanwhile, remains committed to an open-door policy. Pe…
Read story →Spain's Supreme Court has annulled the national register for short-term lettings, prompting property owners to demand reimbursement of registration fees they have already paid. The difficulty lies in the fact that the system operated for on…
Read story →In May, rental prices across Spain rose by 4 per cent to a record 15.1 €/m²/month. Madrid saw a 7.8 per cent increase, Alicante 8.3 per cent, and Málaga 5.2 per cent. The pattern is straightforward: demand is rising whilst supply falls. Yet…
Read story →German purchasers acquired 1,510 properties in Spain during the first quarter of 2026, representing a 7.2 per cent decline compared with Q1 2025. By contrast, the overall foreign investor inflow fell by only 3.2 per cent, suggesting that Ge…
Read story →Spain is tackling its housing crisis through measures that risk confusing and deterring investors from the market. Catalonia has taken this approach to extremes. Local politicians have introduced the concept of a "major landowner"—yet nobod…
Read story →Thousands of Spaniards took to the streets of Madrid in May. Young people, teachers, professors—all unable to afford a flat. Despite economic growth, wages have failed to keep pace with rental costs. One protester remarked: "We are offered …
Read story →Spain's real-estate market is decelerating for the first time in years, with sales dropping 2.6% in the first quarter of 2026. A paradox has emerged: despite weakening demand, prices continue to rise, particularly in major cities and coasta…
Read story →Spain is growing faster than other eurozone countries—GDP is forecast at +2.1% in 2026. Yet this masks a deeper problem: property prices are rising while supply is falling. The cause is straightforward: developers and investors have simply …
Read story →British purchases of Spanish real estate have fallen to their lowest point in years, trading nearly 40% below 2016 levels. In the first quarter of 2026, British buyers acquired just 1,691 properties in Spain. This represents a 20% decline y…
Read story →The saga began in July 2025 when the Spanish government launched a mandatory registration system for tourist lettings (NRA). Property owners were required to obtain a special licence number to legally list their properties on platforms. Log…
Read story →The number of apartments listed for sale in Madrid has risen 17 per cent over the past year, whilst prices have climbed to €6,000 per square metre. A typical 80-square-metre flat now costs nearly €477,000. This apparent paradox reflects mar…
Read story →Portugal is paying 35 per cent more than fair value for property, according to the European Commission. Prices in Portugal have surged 73 per cent over five years. Spain has also seen growth, but at a more modest pace—46 per cent over the s…
Read story →While Germany and France stagnate, Spain's real-estate market continues its steady ascent. According to Eurostat data for Q4 2025, prices in Spain rose 12.9% year-on-year. By comparison: France +1%, Germany +3%, Italy +4%, Britain +2.4%. On…
Read story →Foreign purchasers completed 24,800 transactions in the first quarter of 2026, representing a 3 per cent decline compared with Q1 2025. This marks the third consecutive quarter of contraction. Following the pandemic, demand for Spanish resi…
Read story →Over the past two decades, average rental rates in Barcelona have risen just 1.8% in real terms. Yet after politicians introduced price controls on housing, the market has simply unravelled. The numbers tell the story. In 2025, 30,800 new r…
Read story →A curious paradox has emerged in 2025. Authorities were confident that eliminating short-term tourist lettings would flood the long-term rental market with properties. The logic seemed sound. Reality has proved otherwise. According to data …
Read story →Property purchases by non-EU foreign buyers fell 17% in 2025, despite the absence of any formal legislation. The decline stems entirely from high-profile rhetoric from Prime Minister Sánchez about "speculators" and the prospect of a 100% ta…
Read story →The Association of Spanish Notaries has released a fresh report on foreign property purchases in the second half of 2025, revealing a rapidly shifting landscape. Whereas American investors were confined to luxury resort destinations just a …
Read story →An English couple, both in their fifties, decided to build a seaside villa in Tarragona before retirement. Everything appeared ideal: a reputable developer, an experienced lawyer, clear completion dates set for spring 2025. They sold their …
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