Share of Foreign Buyers in Barcelona and Catalonia

Foreigners signed about 32% of home purchases in the city of Barcelona in 2025. But of that 32%, roughly 27 points are foreign nationals who are residents, and only about 5 are non-residents. That is how the Cambra de la Propietat Urbana de Barcelona (the Barcelona urban property owners' chamber) counts it, from notary statistics. According to the registries, the foreign share in Catalonia in Q2 2026 is 17.63%, and in Spain 15.98%.

Which figures exist and how they differ

The Cambra de la Propietat Urbana counts foreigners by the buyer's nationality, with residents and non-residents separately. I have not checked the methodology of the other sources, so the figures in the table cannot be compared without caveats.

The registry figures for Spain and Catalonia come from the primary ERI report for Q2 2026. I know the notary figures for Barcelona only as relayed by Moncloa: I did not open the primary table of the Cambra and the notaries, so check it before using it in a calculation.

What is visible: Barcelona's share of foreigners is clearly above the Catalan and Spanish averages. At the same time, 2025 and Q2 2026 were measured by different sources, with different samples and different territories, so a trend between them cannot be calculated.

Residents and non-residents: where the line falls

Of 100 home purchases in Barcelona in 2025, according to the Cambra de la Propietat Urbana, about 68 were made by Spanish citizens, about 27 by foreign residents and about 5 by non-residents. For an investor who does not live in Spain this is an important correction. The headline "every third apartment goes to foreigners" creates the impression that foreign capital is flooding into the city. The resident and non-resident figures say otherwise: most foreign buyers are already residents.

Among foreigners in Barcelona the leaders are Italians (6.5% of all purchases), French (3.9%) and Chinese (2.9%), per the same publication. Its author notes that the Italian share is inflated by dual citizenship. For Spain as a whole in Q2 2026 they are British (6.99% of foreigners' purchases), Dutch (6.94%), Germans (6.11%) and Moroccans (6.09%). Note the base: in the first case it is a share of all purchases, in the second a share of purchases by foreigners, and the two cannot be compared directly.

What these figures do not tell you

• Purpose of the purchase. To live in, to let or as an investment: this kind of statistic does not show it.
• Origin of the money and type of buyer. A citizen of another country living in Barcelona and a fund from abroad cannot be told apart in this figure.
• Effect on prices. None of the sources proves that foreign buyers push up prices in Barcelona, and I draw no such conclusion.

For comparison: according to the Cambra de la Propietat Urbana, 87% of purchases in Barcelona in 2025 were made by individuals and 13% by companies and funds.

What this means for a non-resident investor

A non-resident has steps of their own in a purchase: the NIE (foreigner's tax ID), the transfer of funds and, for a remote deal, a power of attorney. A non-resident's taxes differ from a resident's: see the article on Modelo 210 and the tax map. The residency rules after the golden visa was abolished on 3 April 2025 are covered in the article on the abolition.

Who should not rely on this share: anyone who picks a property on the principle of "where foreigners buy". The share says nothing about the yield or the liquidity of a particular district. How to work remotely is described in the article on investing without moving.