Who's actually buying property in Spain right now

The buyer mix is wider than most people expect

British buyers are still Spain's single largest foreign nationality, but only just, at 6.99% of all foreign purchases in Q2 2026. Right behind them: Dutch buyers at 6.94%, essentially tied, and German buyers at 6.11%. After that the list runs Morocco (6.09%), Romania (5.7%), Italy (5.13%), France (4.97%), Poland (4.33%), Belgium (3.69%) and China (3.02%), with Ukraine, Sweden, Ireland, the US and Russia all making up smaller but meaningful shares too.

In other words, if you buy in Spain, you're one of at least ten sizeable nationalities doing the same thing, not part of an overwhelmingly British wave.

Where you end up changes who you'll meet

The nationality mix isn't spread evenly. Foreign buyers made up 46% of all purchases in Alicante province in Q2 2026, the highest in Spain, and 37% in Malaga. The Balearic Islands and Tenerife both sat at 32%, Las Palmas (Canary Islands) at 27%, Murcia at 24%, and Barcelona province at 16%. At the other end, Cordoba province saw just 2.4% of its purchases go to foreign buyers, an overwhelmingly domestic market by comparison.

None of this data tells us exactly which nationality dominates which province, but it's a reasonable guide to where you'll find the most international, mixed communities (the coastal hotspots) versus areas that remain largely Spanish in character.

In areas where the British presence is long-standing, worth knowing what that community actually looks like. Official Spanish data (INE, year ending January 2025) shows the median age among UK-born residents in Spain is 55-59, a decade older than Spain's population as a whole (45-49). Almost 39% are 65 or over, against just under 21% for Spain generally, and only 7% are under 15.

Practically, that means a British-heavy area in Spain today is more likely to feel like a retirement community than a young, family-oriented one. If you're a younger buyer or planning to work remotely from Spain, that's useful context: you may be something of an outlier in the more traditionally British parts of the coast, and areas with a more mixed nationality profile (per the province breakdown above) might suit you better.

What buyers pay varies by where they're from too

Kyero's Q2 2026 data also shows spending power differs sharply by region of origin. North American buyers paid the most per square metre, €4,311, 73% above the national average. EU buyers paid €3,149, 27% above average. South American buyers paid €2,057, 17% below average, and African buyers paid the least at €1,054 per square metre, 58% below average. Worth keeping in mind when sizing up what similar properties in a given area are actually selling for.