British Buyers on the Costa del Sol: What the 2026 Figures Show
By Dmitry Mateshin, Founder
British buyers remain the largest foreign group in Spain, but two official counts give different numbers and one developer reports its own picture. Here is what can and cannot be said.
Few questions come up as often on this coast as the one about British buyers: are they still coming, and are they coming back? The figures published in autumn 2026 give a mixed answer. This article lays out what the official counts say, what one developer reports from its own sales, and why none of them settles the question for the Costa del Sol on its own.
The national picture, by two counts
Two official bodies count foreign purchases in Spain, and they do not agree.
- Land registry, first half of 2026. British buyers made just over 3,510 purchases, equal to 6.8% of foreign purchases. They were the largest national group, narrowly ahead of Dutch buyers (just over 3,430), Moroccan buyers (almost 3,125) and German buyers (3,100). The four are close enough that the order could easily change from one period to the next.
- Notaries, first half of 2026. British buyers made 4,541 purchases, down 21% on the first half of 2025, and still the largest group. German buyers fell 18.2% and Dutch buyers 7.6%. Italian purchases, which the report says are mainly Argentines with dual nationality, were the second-largest group at 4,109.
Third-party statistics use different methods and will not match each other exactly. The gap between 3,510 and 4,541 is one example, and the press reports we read do not explain it. For the wider disagreement between the two sources, see our article on why two sets of figures disagree.
What one developer reports on the Costa del Sol
A single international developer active on the coast published its own reservation figures in September 2026. British buyers made up 21% of its Costa del Sol reservations in 2026, the largest share among buyers of 29 nationalities. Its Costa del Sol buyers paid an average of €560,000 in 2025/26. A later press report said the same developer reported an 18% rise in Costa del Sol sales over the first nine months of 2026 compared with the same period of 2025.
These are one company's results. They show that British demand is present in new developments on this coast. They do not show what happens in resale homes, in other developments, or across the market.
Reading the figures together
What can be said with reasonable confidence:
- British buyers are among the largest foreign groups in Spain by either count.
- The size of the British group differs by about a thousand purchases between the two counts. For foreign buyers overall the direction of change does not match either: one source shows a fall, the other reports a record.
- A developer's own reservations in one corner of the market show a strong British share.
What cannot be said: that British buyers are "back", that they are "leaving", or what they will do next. None of the reports we read provides a Costa del Sol breakdown by nationality for resale homes, and we do not draw one.
What it means if you are a British buyer
British citizens buy in Spain as citizens of a country outside the EU. The practical steps do not depend on headlines: choose the home, get an NIE, appoint an independent lawyer, understand the purchase costs, and plan the transfer of funds. Our buying guide covers the sequence and the costs in Andalusia. If you are thinking about living here, rather than visiting, residency is a separate question from ownership, and our article on retiring on the Costa del Sol explains the main routes.
A selection of homes on the coast
Here is a selection of homes from our catalogue in Marbella and San Pedro Alcántara:
If you would like a shortlist matched to your budget, see How We Work or browse the Collection.
Treat any national figure as background and move quickly to your own questions: what you want from the home, which town fits, and what the total cost is. Our guide to price per m², town by town is a good second read.
This article reports statistics from official bodies and one developer, as described in the press in September and October 2026. It is general information, not investment advice, and not a forecast. Property details and prices are confirmed on request.
