New mortgage data from a leading Spanish property website has revealed which nationalities are applying for the most mortgages in Spain. This time, UK nationals have not come out on top.
According to the latest figures from Idealista, German nationals take the top spot, accounting for 17.1 percent of foreign mortgages in Spain in the third quarter of 2025.
In second place were British applicants, with 13.7 percent of the total, followed by the French and Swiss (both with 8.7 percent) and the Dutch (8.3 percent).
READ ALSO: Which foreigners are most likely to have mortgages approved in Spain?
The top ten was rounded out by US nationals (5.1 percent), Belgians (4.2 percent), the Irish (4.1 percent), Swedes (2.6 percent) and Italians (1.9 percent).
In total, foreigners accounted for just 3.9 percent of total mortgage demand in Spain. On average, foreign mortgage applicants were found to be 43 years old and require 75 percent financing.
Interestingly, in recent months Germany’s lead over other nationalities in terms of mortgage applications has accelerated. In 2024 the Germans topped the tables again overall, although at that time they were barely half a percentage point ahead of British buyers.
For 2024 the German figure was 15.3 percent, compared to 14.7 percent for buyers from the UK, whereas now the gap is 3.4 percent. The current figure is the highest on record, Idealista notes.
Last summer, French nationals also had a strong showing, with a 8.7 percent share.
This comes as buyers from the UK and the US are losing ground. Although British nationals remain the second biggest group of mortgage applications in Spain overall, their current 13.7 percent share is the third lowest in the last 11 financial quarters.
In the case of US citizens, the figure of 5.1 percent is the lowest on record, a statistic that runs contrary to the growing numbers of American tourists coming to Spain in the post-pandemic period.
Since 2023, the weight of US nationals in the Spanish mortgage market has fluctuated between 7.5 percent and 10 percent, so this is the first time that it has dropped to around 5 percent, meaning it also drops out the top 5 in the nationality rankings.
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The Idealista market study also revealed some interesting if unsurprising geographical data, with foreigners mostly buying and selling homes located in coastal areas of the country.
The region that headed the ranking was Valencia, which accounted for 27.5 percent of foreign demand, followed by Andalusia (20.5 percent) and Catalonia (14.6 percent).
These were followed by the Canary Islands (7.6 percent), Madrid (7.2 percent), the Balearic Islands (4.9 percent) and Murcia (4.9 percent).
The average mortgage amount requested by foreign applicants was €176,140. In terms of average house prices, this stood at around €244,000, a 2 percent rise year-on-year.
In one alarming statistic that really brings out the growing imbalance in the Spanish property market, especially in terms of purchasing power between foreigners and Spaniards, foreigners taking out mortgages in Spain were found to have an average income of €6,422 per month.
READ ALSO: What non-residents should know about getting a mortgage in Spain
