For the last few years, the Canary Islands have been talking about limiting the number of foreign homebuyers in order to help solve their property crisis. Now politicians are debating who exactly should be the target of potential restrictions.
The idea of placing restrictions on foreigners from buying properties in the Canaries has been was first floated in 2022, when Canary nationalist political party Nueva Canarias asked the regional government to address the large number of property purchases by non-residents in the archipelago.
Then in 2025 the regional government announced it would formally ask the European Union for help on the matter. In January 2026, it sent an official request to the European Commission asking them to authorise these restrictions.
The debate has been brought to the foreground once again recently as political parties in the region discuss what exactly and who will be restricted from buying property there.
Patricia Hernández from the PSOE party and Jennifer Curbelo from the PP highlighted this issue during the last parliamentary session held on April 27th.
Both politicians agreed on the need to focus the discussion, which faces a complex European legal framework.
The discussion is around whether the restrictions should be limited to non-residents or simply include all foreigners, or rather all non-EU nationals such as Britons, Americans or Canadians.
“Being a foreigner is one thing, and being a non-resident is another,” both Hernández and Curbelo reminded the local government.
Foreigners who are residents in Spain are those who don’t have Spanish nationality, but they do have the legal right to live here and have residency permits or visas.
Non-residents are those who do not have legal residency in Spain. They are the ones that live in the UK for example and own a second home in the Canaries to stay in during holiday periods.
Non-residents could also be Spaniards who left the country to go and live and work elsewhere. Since they would be registered as residents in another country, they would be considered non-residents in Spain. The problem is that could mean that they could be limited from buying a property in their home country.
It’s worth noting that when Spain’s Socialist government last year lodged a proposal in the Congress calling for a 100 percent tax on outside buyers, there was also plenty of confusion surrounding who exactly would have to pay twice as much to a buy a home in Spain.
Judging by the wording of the text, it would be people who reside outside of the EU that would pay the ‘supertax’ when buying a property in Spain, meaning anyone from Brits living in the UK to Spaniards living outside of the European Union.
READ ALSO: What happened to Spain’s 100 percent property tax for foreign buyers?
As for the push for limits to be in the Canaries, the main issue is that limiting certain people from buying property goes against the EU principals of the right to the free movement of capital within the block.
Article 63 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) – the European Constitution, generally prohibits restrictions on capital movements, including those related to the acquisition of real estate by non-resident EU nationals.
Brussels has already warned Spain that such a limitation could only be implemented if justified by “overriding reasons of public interest” and is proportionate.
The difficulty, however, is proving to the EU that the measure is necessary, proportionate, and non-discriminatory. Just showing them that housing is too expensive for locals is not enough, the government will have to prove that the purchase of homes by non-residents for non-residential use significantly contributes to residential displacement, and that there are no less restrictive alternatives.
Curbelo also expressed concern asking the EU for “such an extraordinary measure”.
If the debate is framed as a restriction on foreigners, it’s also leaning towards discrimination based on nationality, which isn’t compatible with European law either.
Canary councillor Pablo Rodríguez believes that if it just aimed at non-residents, it “will never be discriminatory,” because it does not seek to single anyone out based on their origin, but rather to limit the purchase of homes when they are not for primary residence and are used for speculative purposes, such as vacation rentals or tourist development instead.
“It’s a protection for those of us who live here, regardless of where we were born,” he explained.
Some experts believe that way to find a solution is to stop focusing on passports and look at the intended use of the property. Any new legislation also shouldn’t penalise those foreigners who come to work in the Canary Islands and pay taxes buy not letting them buy a home there.
What’s clear however is that the Canary Islands are suffering from a housing crisis and many locals can’t afford to buy properties where they live and work. How much do foreign buyers have a role to play in this though?
In the last ten years, the average percentage of foreign buyers in Spain as a whole was 14.5 percent, while in the Canary Islands, it was 35.3 percent during the same period.
In total, 894,483 homes were sold to foreigners in Spain between 2016 and 2025. One in ten of these properties were in the Canaries.
During last six months of 2025, 3,667 homes were purchased by foreigners in the Canaries, 1,843 of these by non-residents.
Over the last decade, the percentage of purchases by foreign non-residents was 42.7 percent. Among non-residents, the greatest demand for housing came from Germans, accounting for 20.6 percent of total purchases, and Italians, who represented 12.3 percent.
Given these figures, it wouldn’t help much if non-resident non-EU citizens were prohibited from buying properties as those buying the most would still be allowed to.
