Who is actually buying on the Costa del Sol

The second quarter of 2026 produced two numbers that point in opposite directions, and the gap between them is the most useful thing a buyer can understand about this market right now.

Across Spain, home sales fell 5.7% compared with the previous quarter. At the same time, purchases by foreign buyers rose by around 11% year on year and reached 15.98% of all sales — the highest share in the registrars' records.

In Málaga province the divergence is sharper still. Foreign buyers acquired 3,474 homes between April and June, up 20.8% on the same period last year, and took 37.0% of the province's total purchases. Five years ago that share was just under 26%.

What this actually means

It is tempting to read a record as a warning to hurry. It is not, and we would rather you did not.

A market where domestic buying is cooling and international buying is rising is not a market running away from you. It is a market changing hands. Spanish buyers are more exposed to local interest rates and lending conditions; international buyers, many of whom are paying substantially in cash, are less so. The two groups are responding to different pressures, and right now they are moving in opposite directions.

For someone buying from abroad, three practical things follow.

You are not bidding against a frenzy. Overall transaction volume is down. Outside the genuinely scarce segments — front-line beach, the established Marbella addresses, well-priced new-build in the best urbanisations — there is time to look properly, and there is room to negotiate.

You are, however, buying alongside well-informed people. More than a third of the buyers in this province are foreign, and that is now the normal state of the market rather than an anomaly. Agents, developers and lawyers here are thoroughly practised at selling to international buyers. That is convenient, and it is also the reason to be clear about whose side each of them is on.

The competitive pressure is concentrated, not general. Averages across a province hide a great deal. A 37% foreign share tells you nothing about whether the specific building you are considering is in demand. That question is answered by looking at what has actually sold in that development in the last six months, not by reading a market report.

What we would not conclude from this

We would not conclude that prices only go one way. We would not conclude that you should buy before some window closes. The figures describe who bought last quarter; they say nothing about what any particular home is worth, and nothing at all about what you should pay for it.

They are useful for exactly one thing: understanding the room you are walking into.

Where to go from here

If you are early in this, our buying guide sets out how a purchase actually works here — the legal process, the timeline, and what everything costs beyond the asking price. If you have a specific property or area in mind, the more useful conversation is about that, not about provincial averages.

Tell us what you are looking for and we will tell you what we honestly think, including when we think the answer is no.

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Figures: Colegio de Registradores, second quarter 2026. Market data describes the past and is not a forecast. Your own lawyer and valuer speak to the property in front of you.