San Sebastián property market: prices, districts and rules

According to CASAFARI Area Insights, the average asking price for apartments in San Sebastián (Donostia) reached €6,910.1/m² in Q3 2026, up 1.3% year on year and 23.4% since Q1 2023, sitting 0.8% below the Q4 2025 peak of €6,964.6/m². These figures reflect asking prices from indexed listings, not closing transaction prices. After an 11.9% jump in 2025, the Basque Country's most expensive city has hit a plateau governed by severe supply limits and buyer affordability rather than waning demand.

Why is there so little to buy in San Sebastián?

Stand on the Paseo de la Concha on a quiet October morning, looking out toward Santa Clara island, and it is easy to understand why a 90 m² flat behind you is priced like an apartment in central Paris or Madrid. What surprises many visiting buyers is the scale of the place. According to the official population figures in Real Decreto 1117/2025, Donostia had just 189,866 residents on 1 January 2025.

The municipality sits in a natural amphitheatre, hemmed in by Monte Igueldo to the west, Monte Urgull at the headland, the slopes of Ulia to the east, and the Urumea river valley. There is virtually no greenfield land left to develop.

Because of this geography, the housing market is overwhelmingly made up of existing apartments. Across the Basque Country, second-hand homes accounted for roughly 83% of all transactions in Q2 2026, according to COAPI Gipuzkoa and INE data reported by elDiario.es. New supply in Donostia comes only in slow trickles from urban regeneration areas further inland—such as Txomin Enea, Riberas de Loiola and the planned Auditz Akular development—where a high proportion of new stock is reserved for public or protected housing.

For a private buyer, the search almost always focuses on the established neighbourhoods framing the three beaches: La Concha and the historic Parte Vieja at the centre, Ondarreta and the Antiguo district to the west, Zurriola beach and Gros to the east, or the residential avenues of Amara and Egia slightly inland.

What does an apartment cost in San Sebastián in 2026?

In Q3 2026, apartment asking prices in the Área de San Sebastián averaged €6,910.1/m², based on Area Insights, the CASAFARI price series used in this guide (location id 308156, excluding outliers). That is €87.7/m² (+1.3%) higher than in Q3 2025 (€6,822.4/m²) and €1,311.8/m² (+23.4%) above Q1 2023 (€5,598.3/m²).

The trajectory over the past three years falls into three distinct phases:

• Steady appreciation (2023–2024): Asking prices rose 5.2% between Q3 2023 (€5,796.9/m²) and Q3 2024 (€6,099.5/m²).
• The 2025 surge: Between Q3 2024 and Q3 2025, asking prices jumped 11.9% as lower financing costs brought pent-up domestic demand to the market, peaking in Q4 2025 at €6,964.6/m².
• The 2026 plateau: Since that late-2025 high, the curve has flattened, moving to €6,933.6/m² in Q1 2026, €6,867.7/m² in Q2 2026, and €6,910.1/m² in Q3 2026 (-0.8% below the peak).

In practical terms, a well-located, renovated 90 m² flat within walking distance of the beaches requires a budget between €600,000 and €2 million. According to Registradores data reported by Noticias de Gipuzkoa in March 2026, listings in the Centro district regularly exceed €7,000/m², while frontline apartments overlooking La Concha or Ondarreta command significantly more.

It is important to separate asking prices from registered closing prices. When the Basque Government compiled its municipal housing dossier in spring 2025, it recorded a city-wide average sale price of approximately €5,370/m² (as reported by elDiario.es). Active market listings naturally skew toward renovated properties in prime central districts, and sellers in Donostia—rarely under financial pressure to sell—tend to price ambitiously.

Is the market still rising or has it peaked?

Comparing listing data with official appraisal and transaction indices shows a market where agreed prices are catching up with sellers' expectations rather than pushing the ceiling higher.

In Q2 2026, CASAFARI apartment asking prices in San Sebastián rose 2.6% year on year (€6,867.7/m² versus €6,692.2/m² in Q2 2025). Over the same four quarters to Q2 2026, the official INE house price index (IPV) for Q2 2026 recorded a 10.0% annual increase in transaction prices across the Basque Country and 12.2% across Spain (with national new builds up 7.4% and second-hand homes up 12.9%). Similarly, Tinsa appraisal values for the Basque Country stood at €2,715/m² in Q2 2026, up 13.3% year on year.

Transaction volumes explain why asking prices in the capital have stopped accelerating. According to INE figures reported by Orain, Gipuzkoa registered 8,508 home sales across 2025, part of a 14.7% annual surge across the Basque Country (26,636 sales). By Q2 2026, however, quarterly sales in Gipuzkoa dropped 8.2% year on year to 2,041 transactions.

Buyers have not lost interest in Donostia, but local purchasing power has reached a threshold. What we see in 2026 is a high plateau and a polite stand-off between owners holding out for late-2025 asking figures and buyers negotiating harder. You can follow how this compares with other Spanish provinces on the national property market trends page.

Houses and villas in Ondarreta, Igeldo and Ulia: what the data can and cannot say

Detached houses and villas form a tiny, illiquid segment in San Sebastián, concentrated on the green slopes of Igeldo, Aiete, Ulia and the garden streets behind Ondarreta beach.

In Q3 2026, CASAFARI Area Insights recorded an average asking price of €4,517.8/m² for houses in the Área de San Sebastián, up 2.7% year on year from €4,397.0/m² in Q3 2025 and up 21.9% since Q1 2023 (€3,706.6/m²).

Two points help interpret these numbers properly:

1. Why the price per square metre is lower than for apartments: Many houses sit on the rural fringes of Igeldo or outer Aiete, often with large floorplates requiring modernisation and requiring a car. A prime villa near Ondarreta still commands a total ticket well above €1.5 million.
2. Sample volatility: Because so few houses come to market each quarter, a single high-value villa listing entering or leaving the index shifts the quarterly average by several per cent (in 2025, quarterly averages moved from €4,326.0/m² in Q1 to €4,126.6/m² in Q2, €4,397.0/m² in Q3 and €4,200.5/m² in Q4).

When indexed to 100 in Q1 2023, both apartments (+23.4%) and houses (+21.9%) have gained almost the exact same ground over three and a half years. Even so, anyone pricing a detached home should avoid relying on quarterly city averages and instead run Comparables and valuations for a specific flat or villa against immediate neighbours.

Which district suits which buyer?

Although San Sebastián is walkable from end to end in forty minutes, each neighbourhood attracts a distinct buyer profile:

• Centro and the Paseo de la Concha: Grand Belle Époque limestone buildings, high ceilings and wrought-iron balconies. This is the trophy market for domestic second-home buyers—many of whom also own in the Salamanca district of Madrid—as well as buyers from Paris and Bordeaux.
• Gros and Zurriola: Across the Urumea river by the Kursaal congress centre and the surf beach. Lively, renowned for its pintxo bars and independent shops, Gros draws younger professionals and cross-border buyers from Biarritz and Bayonne (just 35 minutes away by road). Flats here are often compact and reward renovation.
• Antiguo and Ondarreta: Located west of Miramar Palace by the sheltered family beach and university campus. Quieter and highly prized by Basque families, mixing mid-century apartment blocks with low-rise villas toward the foot of Monte Igueldo.
• Amara and Egia: Built largely between the 1960s and 1980s along the river valley and near the high-speed rail station. These are the engine rooms of the local primary-residence market, offering lifts, garages and more accessible prices per square metre.
• Aiete and Ulia: Leafy hillside areas offering privacy, gardens and sea views, appealing to buyers looking for larger family homes or low-density blocks.

Despite its international fame for gastronomy and the September film festival, Donostia remains a remarkably domestic market. According to the Registradores annual property statistics 2025, Gipuzkoa recorded an average registered purchase price of €308,197 in 2025—fourth highest among Spanish provinces behind the Balearics, Madrid and Málaga—with Donostia accounting for 571 sales in Q4 2025 (26% of the provincial total). Yet foreign buyers' share in Gipuzkoa, per Registradores data, stood at just 4.7% over the twelve months to Q4 2025 (around 400 homes), compared with 13.82% across Spain as a whole. For broader national context, see our Spain property guide.

What taxes and paperwork apply to a foreign buyer in Gipuzkoa?

One of the pleasant surprises for buyers used to Madrid, Catalonia or Andalusia is the Basque concierto económico. Gipuzkoa collects its own taxes through the Hacienda Foral de Gipuzkoa, and its property transfer tax on resale homes is substantially lower than in most of Spain.

Purchase type	Tax applied in Gipuzkoa (2026)	Rate	Notes and conditions
Standard resale dwelling	Transfer tax (ITP)	4%	Applies to the dwelling plus up to two garages and annexes bought in the same building.
Qualifying primary residence (resale)	Reduced ITP	2.5%	Strict conditions: max 120 m² built / 96 m² useful area, residence requirements; rarely met by non-residents.
Portfolio buyer (resale)	Higher ITP (Norma Foral 1/2025)	6%	Applies when the buyer already owns more than five residential properties.
Commercial or other real estate	General ITP	7%	Applies to premises, standalone plots or extra parking spaces outside the main deed.
New-build dwelling	VAT (IVA) + Stamp Duty (AJD)	10% + 0.5%	Paid directly to the developer and provincial treasury.

All rates above are taken from the transfer tax rates published by Hacienda Foral de Gipuzkoa for 2026. On top of transfer taxes, buyers cover notary fees, Land Registry inscription and independent legal counsel.

For international buyers, there are no ownership restrictions, though you will need a Spanish foreigner tax number (NIE) and a local bank account before signing before the notary. Note that Spain's real-estate golden visa—which previously granted residency for property investments of €500,000 or more—ended on 3 April 2025 under Ley Orgánica 1/2025 (published in the BOE on 3 January 2025), although permits issued before that date remain renewable. Because tax treaties and non-resident wealth or income obligations vary by country of residence, always instruct an independent local lawyer (abogado) familiar with Gipuzkoa foral law.

Can I let the flat out? Tourist licences and the tensioned rental market

If you are hoping to cover your holding costs by letting an apartment on short-stay platforms during the summer, the regulatory door in San Sebastián is now effectively shut for unlicensed properties.

On 7 January 2026, the City Council gave definitive approval to a modification of the urban plan (PGOU), detailed in a report on the January 2026 tourist-letting suspension. The rule suspends new licences for tourist accommodation across all plots in Zone 1—covering Centro, Gros, Antiguo-Ondarreta, Ategorrieta-Ulia and Ibaeta—as well as on residential plots in the rest of the city (the Parte Vieja had already been declared saturated in 2020). Crucially, existing lawful tourist licences are not revoked and can be transferred with the flat. If a seller asks a premium for a tourist licence, have your lawyer verify its registration in the Basque Tourism Register and confirm community-of-owners statutes before committing.

Long-term residential letting is also tightly regulated. Following the tensioned-market declaration for Donostia approved by the Basque Government in May 2025 and published in the BOE in July 2025 (for an initial three-year period), new tenancy contracts for properties not rented in the previous five years, as well as properties owned by large holders, are subject to official rent caps and extraordinary tenant extensions.

In its spring 2025 declaration file, the Basque Government noted an average city rent of roughly €1,037 per month. Set against asking prices near €6,910/m², gross rental returns in San Sebastián are slim. Private buyers and family offices treat Donostia as a capital-preservation and lifestyle market rather than a cash-yield play; you can explore how investors use CASAFARI data to compare regulatory and price metrics across European cities.

How to check these numbers yourself

Every listing price series in this guide comes directly from CASAFARI's unified property database for location id 308156 (Área de San Sebastián / Donostia), resolved through Location Lookup.

Whether you are advising a buyer, valuing an estate in Gros or building an internal market model, you can query the exact same data in three ways:

• API integration: Pull historical and current quarterly series via the Area Insights API documentation or run street-level valuations using the Comparables and valuation documentation for developers.
• AI workflows: Connect your assistant to Casafari MCP for querying the same data in natural language. Both API and MCP calls are metered in tokens (distinct from OAuth access tokens used for authentication).
• Web platform: If you prefer a visual interface to inspect active and historical listings building by building, you can create a CASAFARI account and explore Area Insights directly.