Torrevieja and Orihuela top Spanish coastal housing sales

The Costa Blanca is consolidating its position as the main driving force behind residential tourism across Spain, with Torrevieja and Orihuela leading the market. These two major municipalities in the Vega Baja region topped the Spanish coastal property sales charts last year, finishing far ahead of competing destinations such as Marbella and Estepona in Málaga, as well as major island holiday resorts such as San Bartolomé de Tirajana in Las Palmas.

This trend is highlighted in the “Housing on the Coast 2026” report prepared by the appraisal company Tinsa. The document also echoes the growing accessibility problem across many coastal towns, where high tourist demand is driving house prices well beyond what the local population can afford.

Excluding figures from provincial capital cities to avoid distortion, municipalities along the Alicante coast registered the highest overall volume of home sales in the country, totaling 31,307 transactions. This figure comfortably surpassed other major coastal regions, including Málaga with 22,908 sales, Barcelona with 15,504, Cádiz with 12,493, Murcia with 11,717, the Balearic Islands with 10,331, and Tenerife with 10,418.

At the municipal level, Torrevieja and Orihuela lead the national rankings by a considerable margin. Torrevieja recorded 6,913 home sales despite a market drop of 4.8 per cent, according to Tinsa. No other non-capital coastal population in Spain came close to this total. If capital cities were included, only Barcelona with 17,326, Valencia with 10,383, and Alicante with 7,014 recorded higher figures.

Orihuela took second place with 4,992 homes sold, representing a 7.5 per cent decrease on the previous year. Nevertheless, it easily outperformed towns such as Marbella with 4,407, Gijón with 3,778, Cartagena with 3,759, Elche with 3,611, and Estepona with 3,475. It also exceeded transaction numbers in Mijas with 3,197, Roquetas de Mar in Almería with 2,828, and Algeciras in Cádiz with 2,202, while remaining far ahead of island destinations like Arona in Tenerife with 1,621 sales and San Bartolomé de Tirajana with 1,110. Elsewhere in the province, notable totals were recorded in Benidorm with 2,174 sales, Dénia with 1,967, Santa Pola with 1,927, Guardamar del Segura with 1,377, and Pilar de la Horadada with 1,329.

In addition to sales volume, the report details price increases caused by intense competition from tourist demand. While the valuation firm sets the overall provincial price per square metre at 1,902 euro, the average in coastal municipalities reaches 2,201 euro, representing a 16 per cent increase. For properties strictly aimed at the holiday market, the figure jumps to 3,500 euro per square metre. In many areas, tourist demand is now so dominant that analysts can no longer distinguish between primary local residences and second homes.

Consequently, property prices are increasingly aligned with the higher purchasing power of foreign buyers rather than local families. Tinsa calculated the financial burden for an average local household purchasing a home, finding that in seven out of 16 provincial municipalities analyzed, mortgage payments consume more than half of the total family income. In Torrevieja, an average mortgage requires 50 per cent of income, rising to 54 per cent in Altea, 55 per cent in Dénia, and 59 per cent in Benidorm. Buyers in Calpe must allocate 60 per cent of their monthly earnings, rising to 64 per cent in Teulada, while residents in Javea face the highest burden, with mortgage payments taking up 69 per cent of average salary.