Foreign home purchases in Canary Islands drop by nearly 11%

The number of private homes bought by overseas buyers in the Canary Islands fell by 10.8% in the second half of 2025 compared with the same period a year earlier, according to new data from the General Council of Notaries. The decline in the archipelago was more than double the national average, which stood at 4.4%.

Across Spain, overseas buyers completed 66,629 residential transactions in the latter six months of 2025. That represented 18.4% of all private home sales, down from 19.5% in the second half of 2024 and 20.9% in 2023.

Only Madrid recorded a sharper downturn than the Canary Islands, with a 20.3% drop. The Balearic Islands followed closely behind the Canaries with a 10.2% decrease. In contrast, the strongest growth in foreign purchases was seen in Castilla-La Mancha (21.5%), Extremadura (13.8%), Aragón (11%) and Castilla y León (10.4%).

Foreign residents drive majority of purchases

The notaries’ analysis also showed that foreign residents living in Spain accounted for 62.8% of all transactions involving overseas buyers, representing a year-on-year increase of 3.3%. However, purchases by non-resident foreigners fell by 15.1% and made up the remaining 37.2% of the total. This decline occurred against a backdrop of the government ending the golden visa programme and announcing tax penalties on property purchases by non-resident buyers from outside the European Union.

When comparing the second half of 2025 with the first half of the same year, the volume of home purchases by foreigners fell for both residents and non-residents. For non-residents, the notaries noted that this adjustment followed a period of strong post-pandemic growth, which had peaked in 2022. Among foreign residents, despite a slight dip compared with the first half of 2025, transaction volumes reached the second highest level ever recorded.

Canary Islands among top destinations for non-resident buyers

During the second half of 2025, purchases made by non-resident foreigners were concentrated in five regions. The Valencian Community led with 9,926 transactions, representing 40% of the national total for this group. Andalusia followed with 6,263 transactions (25.3%), then Catalonia with 2,151 (8.7%), Murcia with 1,933 (7.8%) and the Canary Islands with 1,843 (7.4%).