Santa Eulària tops Spain’s home values as foreign buyers crowd Ibiza

Black Privé says Santa Eulària des Riu has led Spain’s municipal home values for 17 straight quarters, with prices up 62% since 2022. The report also points to tighter 2025 rules, heavy foreign demand and higher tax costs that are reshaping Ibiza’s luxury market.

Why it matters: - Santa Eulària des Riu has become a benchmark for Spain’s high-end housing market, with official values outpacing every other municipality over a long stretch. - Foreign demand remains a major force in the Balearics, where buyers from abroad account for nearly a third of transactions. - New restrictions on tourism use, residency-linked buying and ownership taxes are changing the economics of buying on Ibiza.

What happened: - Black Privé analyzed government and land-registry data and found that Santa Eulària des Riu, on Ibiza’s east coast, has had the highest average appraised home value of any Spanish municipality with more than 25,000 residents since the second quarter of 2022. - The municipality’s average value rose from EUR 4,219 to EUR 6,844 per square metre over that period. - That is a 62% increase since Q2 2022 and a 13.3% increase in the past year. - Eivissa, Ibiza’s capital, ranked third in Q2 2026 at EUR 5,473 per square metre, just ahead of Madrid. - Black Privé is opening on Ibiza this month.

The details: - Foreign buyers made 32.27% of home purchases in the Balearic Islands in Q2 2026, according to the Colegio de Registradores. - That is the highest share of any Spanish region and roughly double the national level of 15.98%. - The largest foreign buyer groups across Spain were British, Dutch and German. - Spain ended its golden visa program on 3 April 2025, so a home purchase no longer creates residency. - The Balearic government barred new tourist places in apartment buildings across the islands in 2025. - In August 2025, Ibiza’s island council barred tourist letting for homes on rustic land built after 1956. - The council says that change removes 82% of the roughly 7,800 rustic-land homes that might have qualified. - Black Privé lead property analyst Alexander Thornbury said buyers now focus on whether a house can be let, whether every part was licensed and how wealth tax will apply. - Thornbury said a villa’s tourist registration now deserves the same scrutiny as its title deeds. - The Balearic transfer tax on a resale home rises in bands from 8% to 13%, with 13% applied to the portion above EUR 2 million. - On a EUR 5 million villa, that amounts to EUR 600,000, or 12% of the price, for residents and non-residents. - A new home is taxed at 10% VAT plus 2% stamp duty once the value reaches EUR 1 million. - The Balearic Islands charge wealth tax in full. - A non-resident pays wealth tax on Spanish assets above a EUR 700,000 allowance, at rates up to 3.5%. - On EUR 5 million of net Spanish assets, that is about EUR 53,500 a year. - The same owner in Marbella or Madrid would pay about EUR 22,100 because those regions offset wealth tax against Spain’s solidarity tax on large fortunes. - Wealth tax paid is deducted from the solidarity tax, so an Ibiza owner normally owes no additional solidarity tax. - Since July 2023, children, grandchildren, spouses and parents have received a 100% regional relief on Balearic inheritance tax. - Heirs can use that relief even if the deceased lived outside Spain, as long as they apply the rules of the region holding the greatest value of the Spanish assets. - Ibiza airport handled 9,138,224 passengers in 2025, with more than half on international routes. - The UK was the airport’s largest international market, with 1.87 million passengers. - Black Privé says its Ibiza property tax guide covers charges from purchase through inheritance. - The company also says its buying guide for luxury property in Ibiza covers market conditions, residency, holiday-let rules and prime areas, plus buyer guides for the UK, the Netherlands, Scandinavia, Germany, Belgium and Italy. - The figures in the release are general information on the 2026 rules, not tax advice.

Between the lines: - Ibiza’s market is still being pulled by international buyers, but the island is also becoming more rule-heavy and tax-sensitive. - That combination tends to favor buyers with cash, legal support and a long holding period, while raising barriers for investors counting on short-term rental income or residency benefits. - The contrast with mainland centers such as Madrid and Marbella underscores how regional tax policy can materially change net ownership costs.

What’s next: - Black Privé’s new Ibiza presence suggests it expects continued demand at the top end of the market. - The biggest near-term variables are likely to be enforcement of holiday-let limits, foreign buyer demand and the next round of tax or planning changes. - For buyers, the practical question is shifting from price alone to whether the property can be legally rented, inherited and held efficiently over time.

The bottom line: - Santa Eulària remains Spain’s priciest large municipality, but Ibiza’s luxury market is now defined as much by regulation and tax as by scarcity and demand.