As reported by Open4business, foreign buyers provide about 60% of the demand for ultra-elite housing in Spain, and prices in this segment have increased by about 30% over the past five years. The most noticeable activity, along with the traditional British and German buyers, is now demonstrated by citizens of the Netherlands, Poland and the USA, as well as wealthy clients from the Persian Gulf countries. Ukrainians also remain among the most active foreign buyers of Spanish real estate.
Such estimates are contained in Hiscox data published in August regarding the Spanish ultra-luxury housing market. These are primarily objects with a value of 3 million euros or more.
The main demand is concentrated in only a few regions. The Balearic Islands, the province of Malaga, Madrid and Barcelona account for 83% of the Spanish real estate supply worth more than 3 million euros.
A particularly high share of foreigners is observed in resort markets. In Benahavis in the province of Malaga, foreign buyers account for about 84% of luxury real estate transactions, and in Andhra Pradesh, Majorca, about 79%. In Madrid, the situation is the opposite: in the capital itself, foreigners provide only about 14% of deals in this segment, and in the prestigious suburb of Alcobendas - 17%. As such, Madrid's high-end market remains largely focused on affluent Spanish buyers.
However, non-resident foreigners pay some of the highest prices per square meter as they focus on properties in the most prestigious areas. According to Hiscox, it is international capital that has become one of the factors in the growth of prices for elite real estate in Spain by approximately 30% in five years.
The Hiscox study by nationality does not provide a detailed rating of buyers of housing worth more than 3 million euros. However, the latest data from Spanish registrars allows us to see which foreign groups are currently the most active in the market of the country as a whole.
In the second quarter of 2026, foreigners purchased more than 26,800 housing objects in Spain, securing a record 15.98% of all registered transactions.
The first place was taken by citizens of Great Britain with a share of 6.99% of foreign purchases, almost equaling the citizens of the Netherlands — 6.94%. This was followed by Germany — 6.11%, Morocco — 6.09%, Romania — 5.70%, Italy — 5.13%, France — 4.97%, and Poland — 4.33%.
During the first half of the year, the British bought about 3.57 thousand objects, and buyers from the Netherlands — about 3.49 thousand. At the same time, demand from the Dutch increased by approximately 12% year-on-year, and the Polish one by approximately 11%.
On the luxury real estate market itself, the structure of demand is changing even more noticeably. In June, Reuters noted a sharp influx of wealthy buyers from Poland, the United States and the Persian Gulf to Madrid and the Costa del Sol. At the same time, the British and Germans remain traditionally strong groups of foreign owners on the Spanish coast.
Polish demand has grown particularly rapidly in recent years. The share of Poles among all foreign buyers increased from approximately 1.6% in 2019 to 4% in 2025. In the premium complex Santa Clara in Marbella, the construction of which was completed last year, about 70% of the 102 houses were sold to Polish customers. Polish buyers also dominate among the clients of the 64-story residential skyscraper under construction in Benidorm.
At the same time, American capital is growing rapidly. According to real estate company Gilmar, the share of US clients in its deals has increased from 0.5% in 2024 to 6.2% in 2025, with Americans already overtaking the British among foreign buyers on the Costa del Sol. On the scale of the whole of Spain, buyers from the USA are also distinguished by the high cost of the housing they buy.
Ukrainians are also among the most prominent foreign buyers of real estate in Spain, although their purchases are not concentrated exclusively in the luxury segment.
In the first quarter of 2026, Ukrainian citizens provided 3.08% of all foreign housing purchases, ranking tenth among nationalities. This corresponds to approximately 760-765 trades in three months. In the second quarter, the share of Ukrainians was about 2.94%, which corresponded to the 11th place among foreign buyers. During the first half of the year, Ukrainians could purchase about 1.5 thousand housing units. The last figure is an estimate, since the Spanish registrars did not separately publish the absolute number of Ukrainian transactions for six months.
For comparison, in the second quarter, Ukrainian buyers took the place immediately after China, whose share was 3.02%. At the same time, Ukraine remained ahead of a number of traditional markets for foreign buyers.
In the first half of 2025, Ukrainians set a historic record for themselves by purchasing 2,165 real estate properties. Then the number of transactions of Ukrainian citizens increased by 4.5% in annual terms. The average price of housing purchased by Ukrainians was about 1,832 euros per square meter. m, which is noticeably lower than the level of American, German or Scandinavian buyers and indicates that a significant part of Ukrainian demand falls not on the ultra-luxury segment, but on the ordinary and medium segment.
On a regional basis, Ukrainians are especially noticeable in the Autonomous Community of Valencia, where, according to the results of 2025, they accounted for 5.92% of all housing purchases by foreigners.
It is noteworthy that the cancellation of the Golden Visa program by Spain from April 3, 2025 practically did not change the situation in the upper price segment.
According to Hiscox, transactions related to obtaining a residence permit through investment accounted for only about 0.5% of the total number of transactions. A typical buyer of real estate worth several million euros chooses Spain primarily for the quality of life, climate, security, infrastructure and the opportunity to diversify capital, and not for obtaining a residence permit.
This trend is also confirmed by Reuters: geopolitical instability has become an additional factor in demand. For some Polish and Ukrainian families, housing on the Costa del Sol is considered a backup base far from the eastern border of Europe, American buyers are looking for an alternative place of residence and capital investment, and clients from the Persian Gulf countries are beginning to consider Spain as a possible alternative to Dubai.
Thus, Spain's luxury real estate market is becoming increasingly international.
