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International buyers, including large numbers of Dutch, Belgian and British nationals, now dominate the property market across huge parts of the Costa Blanca, according to the latest figures from Spain's General Council of Notaries.

 

In eight municipalities across the province of Alicante, foreigners account for more than 80% of all home sales. San Miguel de Salinas leads the way, with international buyers snapping up over 90% of the 528 homes sold there between June 2025 and May 2026. Spanish buyers picked up just 49 of those properties.

 

Nearby in Rojales, which includes the popular expat hub of Ciudad Quesada, foreign buyers made up 88.3% of transactions. Algorfa followed closely behind on 87.2%, with Benijófar on 82.6% and San Fulgencio on 82.1%.

 

It isn't just the smaller towns feeling the shift either, with foreign buyers accounting for 79% of sales in Orihuela and 78.1% in Torrevieja, the province's two largest coastal cities.

 

Benidorm, long seen as one of Spain's biggest draws for British and other international tourists, bucks the trend altogether, with foreigners making up just 38% of home purchases there.

 

Across the province as a whole, foreign buyers accounted for 51.3% of all sales, generating more than €6.5 billion for the local economy last year. Even so, around 40% of sellers were also foreign nationals, including British, Swedish and Norwegian owners cashing in on their properties.

 

The surge in international demand has pushed prices up sharply. Homes bought by Spaniards averaged €143,296 last year, compared with €224,192 for those bought by foreigners, a gap of 56.4%.

 

The Spanish government has floated the idea of a surcharge on homes bought by foreign buyers to help rein in prices, although this would likely only apply to non-EU nationals, who make up a small share of buyers in the area. A tourist tax, with proceeds used to fund affordable housing, has also been suggested but hasn't gained much traction so far.

 

Alicante now accounts for around a fifth of all foreign property purchases in Spain, five times more than its population would suggest.

 

 

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