U.S. buyers still account for a relatively small share of Spain’s foreign property purchases. Their spending power tells a very different story.
MARBELLA, Spain — For decades, the foreign buyer on Spain’s Costa del Sol was relatively easy to picture.
British buyers established themselves across Mijas, Estepona and Marbella. Scandinavians became an important force in Fuengirola and Marbella. German, Dutch, Belgian and other European purchasers sought villas, golf properties and second homes along the Mediterranean.
The American buyer was the exception.
That is beginning to change.
A growing number of wealthy Americans are looking across the Atlantic and discovering a corner of southern Europe that many Europeans found decades ago: Marbella, Benahavís and the wider Costa del Sol.
And while Americans remain far from the largest group of foreign purchasers in Spain by transaction volume, their importance to the upper end of the property market is becoming considerably greater than their market share suggests.
In Q1 2026, U.S. nationals represented approximately 1.57% of foreign property purchases in Spain. By Q2, that share had risen to around 1.79%.
That remains small compared with established European markets.
But counting transactions tells only part of the story.
The more revealing figure is what Americans are prepared to pay.
The €3,465-per-Square-Metre Buyer
The latest detailed nationality pricing data from Spain’s Consejo General del Notariado put American buyers at an average:
€3,465 per square metre
during the first half of 2025.
That was the highest average price paid by any major foreign nationality in the dataset.
The average across all foreign purchasers was €2,417/m².
In other words, Americans paid approximately:
43% more per square metre
than the average international buyer.
The comparison is striking:
| Nationality | Average Price |
|---|---|
| United States | €3,465/m² |
| Switzerland | €3,457/m² |
| Sweden | €3,421/m² |
| Norway | €3,292/m² |
| Germany | €3,270/m² |
| All foreign buyers | €2,417/m² |
America does not have to become Spain’s largest foreign buyer market to become one of its most valuable.
From Florida and California to Marbella
The shift is increasingly visible on the ground.
Reuters reported in June that wealthy American, Polish and Gulf-based purchasers were moving money into Madrid and the Costa del Sol, driven partly by a desire to diversify assets and establish a European base amid geopolitical and political uncertainty.
The Costa del Sol has spent decades developing the infrastructure required by wealthy international residents.
International schools.
Private healthcare.
Golf courses.
Marinas.
Luxury hospitality.
English-speaking legal and financial services.
Gated communities.
High-end restaurants.
And an enormous property industry accustomed to dealing with purchasers who do not live permanently in Spain.
For many Europeans, these characteristics are already familiar.
For an American discovering Marbella for the first time, they can fundamentally change the perception of southern Spain.
A €2 million or €3 million budget can provide access to Mediterranean villas, sea views, swimming pools and gated communities that can be difficult to replicate in prime U.S. coastal markets.
Marbella is consequently beginning to compete for a buyer it rarely encountered at scale 10 or 15 years ago.
Not simply the American tourist.
The American homeowner.
Marbella Is Almost Designed for This Buyer
Drive west from Málaga and the geography of the opportunity becomes clear.
Marbella’s luxury market now extends far beyond the traditional Golden Mile.
Modern villas and high-end developments stretch through Marbella East, Nueva Andalucía, Sierra Blanca, Cascada de Camoján, Benahavís and towards Estepona.
At the very top sits La Zagaleta, the gated Benahavís estate synonymous with ultra-prime Costa del Sol property.
Recent market data cited in the original analysis put Marbella’s average transaction at approximately €769,000 during the 12 months to April 2026, with an average price of around €4,582/m².
At the extreme end, prices move into another category entirely.
A 2026 ranking of Spain’s most expensive residential streets placed Coto Zagaleta in Benahavís at a median asking price of approximately €10.5 million.
This is increasingly the market into which American capital is arriving.
A Small Percentage Can Move a Luxury Market
This is where nationality percentages can become deceptive.
Imagine one international buyer group completing 1,000 transactions averaging €300,000.
That represents €300 million.
Now imagine another completing only 300 transactions averaging €2 million.
That represents €600 million.
The first dominates the transaction count.
The second represents twice as much capital.
That is why looking exclusively at nationality market share risks underestimating the significance of American buyers.
For Marbella, Benahavís and the premium end of Estepona, the relevant question is not simply:
How many Americans are buying?
It is:
What are they buying?
One Agency Shows How Quickly Things Can Change
National statistics inevitably move slowly.
Individual agencies can sometimes identify shifts earlier.
Reuters reported one particularly notable example.
At Spanish real estate firm Gilmar, U.S. investment reportedly increased from 0.5% of its transactions in 2024 to 6.2% in 2025.
Within the firm’s Costa del Sol business, Americans had overtaken British purchasers as its leading foreign buyer group.
That does not mean Americans have overtaken British buyers across the Costa del Sol.
They have not.
Britain remains deeply embedded in the region’s property market and continues to generate significantly greater transaction volumes.
But the agency figures offer a glimpse into what can happen within a particular segment of the market.
At the luxury end, the nationality ranking can look very different from the headline national statistics.
Why Now?
There is no single explanation for increasing American interest.
Instead, several factors are converging.
A European Base
For some wealthy Americans, purchasing in Spain is not simply a holiday-home decision.
It provides geographic diversification and another base from which to travel, work and spend part of the year.
Reuters reported agents encountering buyers who viewed Spanish property partly as a hedge against political and geopolitical uncertainty.
For these households, a Marbella villa can simultaneously function as a lifestyle purchase, property investment and European foothold.
The Miami Comparison
Value is relative.
A €3 million Marbella villa is extremely expensive by Spanish standards.
But an American purchaser may not compare it with Málaga or another domestic Spanish market.
They may compare it with:
Miami. Palm Beach. Los Angeles. The Hamptons. Manhattan. Mallorca. The French Riviera.
That completely reframes the price.
A modern villa with a pool, Mediterranean views, privacy and substantial outdoor space can look expensive domestically while appearing comparatively attractive to someone accustomed to prime U.S. coastal markets.
Locally, it is luxury.
Internationally, it may look like value.
Málaga Airport Has Changed the Equation
There is another less glamorous but enormously important factor:
Access.
Málaga Airport is no longer simply a regional airport transporting European holidaymakers to the Costa del Sol.
Its international connectivity has expanded significantly, while seasonal nonstop connections with the United States have reduced the psychological distance between southern Spain and the American East Coast.
For wealthy second-home owners, friction matters.
A destination requiring several connections is somewhere you visit occasionally.
A destination accessible directly or through a single major European hub begins to look like somewhere you can realistically own a home.
The Costa del Sol Has Changed Too
The American buyer has changed.
But so has Marbella.
The old stereotype of the Costa del Sol — package holidays, golf resorts and British retirees — increasingly represents only one layer of a far larger economy.
Marbella now combines international schools, private healthcare, sophisticated restaurants, wellness, luxury hospitality, branded residences and high-end residential developments.
The coast increasingly operates year-round.
That matters because the new international buyer is not necessarily searching for an apartment occupied for four weeks every August.
Many want a genuine second base.
Some work remotely.
Some spend several months in Europe.
Some relocate their families.
Some invest.
Others simply want optionality.
The property therefore has to function as a home, rather than merely a holiday property.
The End of the Golden Visa Didn’t End the Attraction
Spain’s decision to end its property-linked Golden Visa might have been expected to weaken high-end international demand.
The luxury market has proved more complicated.
For genuinely wealthy purchasers, residency rights were often only one component of the attraction.
Foreign nationals do not need a Golden Visa to own property in Spain.
For Americans primarily interested in spending part of the year in Europe, owning a second home or investing in Spanish property, the fundamental attraction of Marbella remains.
The property itself is the product.
And the Costa del Sol continues to sell something considerably harder to quantify:
Lifestyle.
The Bigger Story Isn’t Just America
The rise of American demand is compelling.
But the larger story may be what it tells us about the Costa del Sol itself.
For decades, southern Spain’s international property market was overwhelmingly European.
British buyers dominated.
Then Scandinavians, Germans, Dutch, Belgians, French and other nationalities expanded the market.
Now its geographic radius is widening again.
Americans.
Polish buyers.
Ukrainians.
Middle Eastern investors.
International entrepreneurs whose nationality may tell you less about them than where their businesses and assets are located.
The Costa del Sol is increasingly becoming something different from a conventional regional Spanish housing market.
It is becoming a global residential property market that happens to be located in southern Spain.
NLS Analysis: Follow the Capital, Not Just the Passport Count
For The NLS, the emergence of the American purchaser highlights one of the weaknesses in how international property markets are traditionally measured.
We rank nationalities by transaction volume.
But transaction volume and economic importance are not necessarily the same thing.
If American purchasers represent around 1–2% of international transactions but disproportionately participate in €1 million, €3 million and €5 million property markets, their influence on the premium segment can be dramatically greater than their headline percentage suggests.
The numbers make the argument:
€3,465/m²
Average paid by American purchasers in H1 2025.
+43%
The approximate premium over the average foreign buyer.
+14.3%
Year-on-year growth in U.S. purchases during H1 2025.
And Registradores data indicate the American share of foreign transactions increased from approximately 1.57% in Q1 2026 to 1.79% in Q2.
The direction is difficult to ignore.
For Marbella Agents, America Requires a Different Strategy
The opportunity is not simply translating a Spanish property listing into English.
American buyers arrive with different expectations.
Property sizes may be understood in square feet rather than square metres.
The buying process is unfamiliar.
The roles of lawyers, notaries, deposits and reservation contracts require explanation.
Taxes need context.
Currency exposure matters.
Residency questions arise.
Even terminology differs.
What an American calls a “realtor”, “closing”, “HOA” or “property tax” does not map perfectly onto the Spanish system.
Agencies that understand this are not simply marketing Spanish property to Americans.
They are reducing the friction of buying Spain.
That distinction matters.
The MLS Question
There is also a structural difference between the two property markets.
American buyers come from a country where the Multiple Listing Service is deeply embedded in residential real estate.
They are accustomed to agents collaborating, properties being broadly distributed and buyer agents searching large inventories on behalf of their clients.
Spain remains considerably more fragmented.
The same property can appear with multiple agencies.
Information can vary.
Availability may be unclear.
Commission structures differ.
Listings are not always updated simultaneously.
For an American purchaser accustomed to MLS infrastructure, that fragmentation can be surprising.
As more U.S. buyers enter Spain, their expectations could ultimately add further pressure on the Spanish property industry to become more transparent, collaborative and data-driven.
NLS Conclusion
The headline statistic says Americans still represent less than 2% of Spain’s foreign property purchases.
That risks missing the real story.
The more revealing numbers are:
€3,465 per square metre
Approximately 43% above the average foreign buyer in the latest detailed nationality pricing data.
+14.3% year-on-year
Growth in U.S. purchases during H1 2025.
1.57% → 1.79%
The approximate movement in America’s share of foreign transactions between Q1 and Q2 2026.
And then there is what individual agents are already seeing on the ground.
One major Spanish agency reported U.S. investment increasing from 0.5% to 6.2% of its transactions in a single year, with Americans becoming its leading foreign buyer group within its Costa del Sol business.
None of this means Americans are about to replace the British, Dutch, Germans or other established European markets.
They do not need to.
Because in Marbella’s luxury property market, the most important question is not necessarily:
Who buys the most homes?
It may increasingly be:
Who buys the most expensive ones?
And one of those buyers is increasingly arriving from across the Atlantic.
Sources: Consejo General del Notariado; Colegio de Registradores de España; Reuters; supplementary Costa del Sol market data.
