Alicante property market: prices, yields and rules

The average asking price of an apartment in Alicante city reached €2,750.2/m² in Q3 2026 (CASAFARI Area Insights, location id 305424), up 6.4% on Q3 2025 and 49.1% since Q1 2023. Average asking rents of €14.8/m²/month give an indicative gross yield of about 6.5%. Annual asking-price growth is slowing down from its +16.8% peak, while the city council has frozen new tourist-rental licences since January 2025. The CASAFARI Area Insights figures in this guide reflect asking prices from indexed listings with outliers excluded, not closed transaction prices.

What does an apartment cost in Alicante?

Imagine a couple from Leeds or Antwerp who first priced a two-bedroom flat near Alicante's Mercado Central in early 2023. Returning in the autumn of 2026, they find the city changed in three quiet ways: the average asking price per square metre is up by almost half, the option of applying for a tourist-letting licence is off the table, and Spain's golden visa has been abolished. Yet for a buyer looking at long-term residential use or a standard tenancy, the numbers still hold together.

In Q3 2026 (the quarter starting 1 July 2026), the average asking price for an apartment in Alicante city stood at €2,750.2/m², according to Area Insights, the source of the price and rent series in this guide (location id 305424). Because these figures measure sellers' asking prices across indexed portal listings with outliers excluded rather than notarised sale prices, they show what the market is asking today rather than what was agreed three months ago.

At this city-wide average of €2,750.2/m², a typical 90 m² two-bedroom apartment carries an asking price of roughly €247,500, while a compact 70 m² flat asks around €192,500. Asking prices in the capital have recorded uninterrupted quarterly rises since Q1 2023, when the series opened at €1,845.0/m²—a cumulative increase of 49.1% over three and a half years, with the latest quarter adding 1.2% against Q2 2026 (€2,716.6/m²).

Even after that re-rating, Alicante remains noticeably more accessible on a per-square-metre basis than larger or more constrained Spanish markets such as Valencia, Palma or Malaga. Readers weighing the Costa Blanca capital against other coastal cities can compare how Malaga compares as the other big Mediterranean city market or consult our guide to the Spanish property market for the national picture.

Are prices in Alicante still rising, or is the market cooling?

A buyer who waited on the sidelines since early 2023 has watched asking prices climb by nearly half, which naturally prompts the question of whether the market is finally reaching a plateau. The data points to an orderly deceleration rather than a drop.

According to CASAFARI Area Insights (location id 305424), year-on-year growth in apartment asking prices peaked at +16.8% in Q3 2024 (€2,253.8/m² against €1,929.3/m² in Q3 2023) and stood at +14.7% in Q3 2025. Since then, the annual pace has cooled for four consecutive quarters: +13.1% in Q4 2025, +11.1% in Q1 2026, +7.3% in Q2 2026, and +6.4% in Q3 2026 (€2,750.2/m² versus €2,584.8/m² in Q3 2025).

Official transaction statistics appear hotter because closed deeds lag behind initial listing prices by several months. The INE house price index, Q2 2026 (published on 7 September 2026), which tracks completed sales at a regional level, showed prices in the Comunitat Valenciana rising by 13.0% year on year in Q2 2026, ahead of the Spanish national average of 12.2%.

For a buyer preparing an offer in late 2026, this divergence is useful to know. Asking prices in Alicante are still nudging upwards every quarter, so there is no sign of distress, but the slower pace means less competition at viewings and more room for measured negotiation than existed in 2024 or 2025.

What rental yield can an investor expect in Alicante?

For buy-to-let investors, Alicante's appeal rests on the fact that rents have kept pace with capital values. In Q3 2026, the average asking rent for an apartment in Alicante city reached €14.8/m²/month (CASAFARI Area Insights, location id 305424), up 6.5% on Q3 2025 (€13.9/m²/month) and 21.3% higher than in Q1 2024 (€12.2/m²/month). As with the sales series, these are asking rents from advertised listings rather than signed tenancy contracts.

Dividing the annualised asking rent by the average asking price (12 × €14.8 ÷ €2,750.2) gives an indicative gross rental yield of 6.46%, or about 6.5% in Q3 2026. Because rents and sale prices have moved in step, this indicative gross yield has held within a band of 6.2% to 7.5% since Q1 2024—a return that still beats most Spanish provincial capitals.

Gross yield is only the starting point: it is calculated before community fees (comunidad de propietarios), annual property tax (IBI), building insurance, maintenance, periods of vacancy, agency management and non-resident income tax (IRNR). A realistic net yield is lower and depends heavily on how the purchase is financed and managed.

Because new short-term tourist lets are frozen, that 6.5% gross figure relies entirely on standard residential demand. Fortunately, the city has a deep pool of year-round tenants: the official population figures for Alicante, 1 January 2025 (Ayuntamiento de Alicante) recorded 366,221 registered residents (RD 1117/2025), up from 358,720 a year earlier (+2.1%), and 27,644 residents were added between 2022 and 2025. Demand is underpinned by local households, students and staff near the Universidad de Alicante in neighbouring San Vicente del Raspeig, and remote workers settling in the city. You can see how investors use CASAFARI data to size a buy-to-let across Spanish cities, and check an asking price against Comparables before making an offer on a specific unit.

Can you let a flat to tourists in Alicante?

If a business plan depends on obtaining a new Airbnb or holiday-letting permit in Alicante city, the answer is no. By a plenary resolution of the Ayuntamiento de Alicante that took effect on 13 January 2025, the city suspended all new licences and urban-compatibility certificates for tourist apartments (viviendas de uso turístico, or VUT) for up to two years (running to January 2027). In July 2025, the council extended the moratorium to cover entire tourist apartment blocks, guesthouses and hostels.

The freeze has teeth. In February 2026, the Contencioso-Administrativo court in Alicante dismissed an appeal brought by the tourist-apartments association, and in the same month the city council's delegated sanctioning powers became effective. According to the Alicante council's September 2026 update on the tourist-rental moratorium, every single VUT compatibility certificate requested since the freeze began has been denied, and during 2026 the city opened 57 inspection files, 26 sanction proceedings and 9 activity closures.

Nor will licences simply reopen when the temporary freeze expires in January 2027. In December 2025, the council gave initial approval to a permanent planning rule—Modificación Puntual nº 52 of the General Urban Plan (PGOU)—with final approval expected before the end of 2026. As set out in the council's note on the new tourist-use regulation (PGOU Modificación nº 52), the reform caps tourist accommodation at 0.187 tourist beds per inhabitant in each census district and bans new tourist beds in saturated neighbourhoods (with an exception for three- to five-star hotels).

In practice, buyers should treat any listing advertised with "tourist licence potential" with scepticism. If a flat is sold with an existing, active tourist registration, your lawyer must verify both its status in the Generalitat Valenciana's tourism registry and that the community of owners' statutes do not prohibit holiday lets. Otherwise, underwrite the purchase strictly on long-term residential rent.

Where in Alicante do international buyers look?

International statistics often blur Alicante city with the resort towns further south, so it helps to separate the two. According to Colegio de Registradores data on foreign buyers by province, 2025, foreign nationals accounted for 43.29% of all registered home purchases across the province of Alicante in 2025 (23,112 purchases out of 53,385 total sales, with a turnover rate of 25.86 sales per 1,000 inhabitants—the highest in Spain), and 44.65% in Q1 2026. However, that provincial figure takes in pure holiday-home belts such as Torrevieja and Orihuela Costa. The capital itself is a working Mediterranean city where 69,614 registered residents—19.4% of the municipal Padrón as of 1 January 2024 (ASTI Alicante, 2025 statistical report on INE data)—are foreign nationals living year-round.

Within the municipality, buyers generally divide their search into three distinct zones:

• The historic and commercial core: The Centro, Ensanche-Diputación and the Casco Antiguo (including the hillside streets of Santa Cruz below the Castillo de Santa Bárbara) offer walkable city living near the marina and the Explanada. Just beyond lie traditional residential quarters such as Benalúa and Carolinas. The typical stock in these central districts consists of 1960s to 1980s apartment buildings—Plus a handful of townhouses in Santa Cruz—many of which require internal updating and energy-efficiency improvements.
• The coastal arc: Running north-east from the centre, La Albufereta, the headland of Cabo de las Huertas and the long sweep of Playa de San Juan attract buyers seeking sea views, beaches and gated residential complexes (urbanizaciones) with pools and parking.
• Modern expansion areas: Immediately inland from Playa de San Juan, the planned sector of PAU 5 has concentrated much of the city's recent new-build development, offering contemporary layouts, terraces and higher energy ratings.

Part of the capital's appeal to non-resident owners is effortless logistics. Alicante–Elche Miguel Hernández Airport sits roughly 10 km south-west of the downtown area, the AVE high-speed train links Alicante Terminal directly to Madrid, and the TRAM light-rail network connects the city centre with Playa de San Juan and coastal towns to the north.

What does it cost to buy, and what has changed for foreign buyers?

Two legislative changes in 2025 and 2026 have reshaped the checklist for international buyers in Alicante: a welcome cut in regional purchase tax, and the abolition of Spain's residency-by-investment scheme.

Under Ley 5/2025 de la Generalitat, the general rate of Property Transfer Tax (Impuesto sobre Transmisiones Patrimoniales, or ITP) on resale homes in the Comunitat Valenciana fell from 10% to 9% for public deeds signed from 1 June 2026 onwards. For properties valued above €1,000,000, an 11% rate applies (buyers in that bracket should confirm with a tax adviser on the Agència Tributària Valenciana portal how the band is applied). Reduced ITP rates of 6% or 8% exist for under-35 first-home buyers, and 3% or 4% for large families and other protected groups within strict income and value caps. As detailed in the ITP rates in the Comunitat Valenciana from 1 June 2026, the taxable base is whichever is higher: the price paid or the official Catastro reference value (valor de referencia).

Purchase type / tax item	Rate in Alicante (from 1 June 2026)	Notes
Resale home: Transfer Tax (ITP)	9% (up to €1,000,000) / 11% (above €1,000,000)	Per Ley 5/2025 de la Generalitat (down from 10% prior to 1 June 2026); levied on at least the Catastro reference value.
New-build home: VAT (IVA) + Stamp Duty (AJD)	10% VAT + 1.4% AJD	Paid when buying directly from a developer; AJD reduced from 1.5% on 1 June 2026.
Notary, land registry and gestoría	Typically 1% – 2% (estimate)	Varies with property price and mortgage complexity.

On a worked example, buying a €250,000 resale apartment in Alicante after 1 June 2026 incurs €22,500 in ITP at the 9% general rate (saving €2,500 compared with the old 10% rate), plus notary, land registry and gestoría fees.

On the residency side, Spain's golden visa—including the route that granted residence permits to non-EU nationals purchasing €500,000 or more in real estate—was abolished with effect from 3 April 2025 by Ley Orgánica 1/2025. As explained in the summary of Ley Orgánica 1/2025 ending the golden visa, investor permits granted before that date remain valid and renewable, but no new applications can be made. Buying property in Spain remains completely unrestricted for both EU and non-EU citizens—requiring only a Foreigner Identity Number (NIE) and, in practice, a Spanish bank account—but non-EU buyers who wish to spend more than 90 days in 180 in Spain must now qualify separately for a non-lucrative visa or digital nomad visa.

Once you own the flat, annual running costs include local property tax (IBI), community fees, and non-resident income tax (IRNR), which non-resident owners must file every year with the Agencia Tributaria on either actual rental profit or imputed income when the property sits empty. Before committing to a price, owners and buyers can also get an online valuation of a flat in Alicante.

How to check an Alicante listing before you make an offer

In a market where asking-price growth has slowed from +16.8% to +6.4% a year, the spread between ambitious sellers and realistic ones widens. Before putting down a reservation deposit (contrato de arras), three checks will keep your numbers grounded:

1. Benchmark the asking price per square metre: Compare the listing not against the €2,750.2/m² city average, but against current and recently removed listings of the same building age, floor level and lift access on the immediate streets using Comparables.
2. Test the long-term rent: Verify what similar flats in that specific neighbourhood are actually asking in monthly rent, rather than relying on an agent's yield projection.
3. Audit any tourist-let claim: If a seller claims the flat holds a historic VUT licence, require the official registration certificate and the community minutes before signing.

For property advisers, analysts and technical teams who want to pull the Alicante time series directly into their own models, the exact metrics quoted in this guide are available via the Area Insights API documentation, with the query that returns the Alicante series using location id 305424, alongside the Comparables and valuation API documentation. You can also query the market in plain English through Casafari MCP; both API and MCP calls are metered in tokens (distinct from OAuth access tokens).

Alicante in late 2026 is no longer a bargain-basement secret, nor is it a place for quick holiday-let arbitrage. What it offers instead is a growing, well-connected Mediterranean city where asking prices are settling into a calmer rhythm and long-term rental yields around 6.5% gross still make sense on paper. To explore neighbourhood trends or value a specific apartment, you can create a CASAFARI account to query Alicante yourself or visit Area Insights.