Sales of private-sector homes to foreign buyers in the Balearic Islands fell 15.4% year-on-year in the first half of 2026, according to data from Spain’s Notarial Statistical Information Centre (CIEN) and the land registrars reported by the Majorca Daily Bulletin. The fall came even as average home prices in the islands rose 9.3% over the same period. Foreign buyers accounted for 6.4% of all property sales in the Balearics in the six months to June.
The slowdown reaches anyone weighing a home purchase in the Balearics as a foreign buyer, as well as sellers and agents who serve that segment: fewer transactions are closing even as the properties that do sell change hands at higher prices.
The Balearic figure sits inside a wider national slowdown. Foreign purchases fell 13% nationwide to 62,327 transactions, the sharpest first-half drop since 2020, while the average price paid by foreign buyers rose 9.4% to €2,644 per square metre. Foreigners made up 18.3% of all private home sales nationally, down from 19.2% in the first half of 2025 and 20.3% in the first half of 2024. Splitting the national total by residency status, purchases by non-resident foreign buyers fell 18% to 22,940 — their lowest first-half total since 2021 — at an average €3,493 per square metre (up 11.8%), while purchases by foreign buyers resident in Spain fell a smaller 9.7% to 39,387, averaging €2,102 per square metre (up 9.8%); domestic buyers paid €1,971 per square metre on average. Regionally, the Balearics’ 15.4% decline matched the Valencian Community and was less steep than Cantabria (-20.5%), the Canary Islands (-20.3%) and Madrid (-19.7%); Castilla-La Mancha and Extremadura were the only regions where foreign purchases rose. By nationality, Moroccan buyers made the most purchases nationwide (4,960), ahead of British buyers (4,541), followed by Italian, Romanian and German buyers; the steepest declines came from Russian, Chinese, American, Bulgarian, Belgian and British buyers, while only Venezuelan and Colombian buyers increased their purchases.
The report does not attribute the decline to any named analyst’s explanation, and gives no forecast for the second half of the year — the figures are presented as a standalone data release. For context, Zagdim separately reported this week on a distinct wave of long-term-rental withdrawals in Spain tied to a reissued tenancy-law decree — a different data source and a different market segment (rental supply, not home sales) from the purchase figures here.
References
Majorca Daily Bulletin – Foreign Property Market Shrinks by 15.4% in the Balearics
