Buying property in Costa Blanca: taxes, rules and checks for 2026

Buying property in Costa Blanca: what is different

Buying property in Costa Blanca follows the same national process as anywhere in Spain: NIE, bank account, legal checks, arras contract, notary, tax and registration. Our step-by-step guide to buying property in Spain covers that in full. What changes on the Costa Blanca is the regional layer: the Valencian Community sets the purchase tax, runs the tourist-let register and, since 2025, has its own coastal law. Those three things decide what you pay and what you can do with the home.

The Costa Blanca is the coast of Alicante province, from Dénia and Jávea in the north through Calpe, Altea, Benidorm and Alicante city to Torrevieja and Pilar de la Horadada in the south. Every town in it uses the same regional tax rates, but tourist-let rules and planning can differ from one town hall to the next.

Costa Blanca property taxes in 2026

The Valencian parliament cut the purchase taxes with Ley 5/2025, effective 1 June 2026. The regional tax agency (Generalitat Valenciana, Conselleria de Hacienda) confirms the current rates:

Worked example: a resale apartment in Torrevieja at €250,000 now carries €22,500 ITP, against €25,000 before June 2026. A €1.2 million villa in Jávea pays 9% on the first €1 million and 11% on the remaining €200,000: €90,000 + €22,000 = €112,000. The tax is assessed on the higher of the price and the regional reference value, so check the reference value before you sign.

Reduced rates exist for some residents, such as young buyers of a main home and protected housing, but they rarely apply to foreign second-home buyers. Notary, Land Registry, lawyer and bank costs come on top; see the cost of buying property in Spain and our property taxes guide for the annual taxes you will pay as an owner.

Tourist lets on the Costa Blanca

Many buyers plan to let the home when they are not using it. In the Valencian Community that is a regulated activity. Decree-law 9/2024, in force since August 2024, rewrote the rules:

• Registration: the home must be entered in the Registro de Turismo de la Comunitat Valenciana through a declaración responsable before you advertise it.
• Town-hall report: you need a favourable municipal report of urban-planning compatibility for tourist use (or an equivalent document). No report, no registration.
• Five-year validity: registration lasts five years and must then be renewed.
• Referencia catastral: the individual cadastral reference must appear in the register and in every letting contract. Existing registrations without it were cancelled from 31 December 2024.
• Definition: the rules cover stays of 10 days or less to the same guest.
• Local limits: town halls may cap tourist homes per building, sector or area.

Town halls are using those powers. In December 2024 Alicante city council suspended new licences for tourist homes in residential buildings for two years, and extended the freeze to apartment blocks, guesthouses and hostels in July 2025. The council has said it will approve a permanent regulation before the end of 2026. Other Costa Blanca towns have added their own restrictions, so ask the town hall in writing before you buy on the strength of rental income.

Planning and the coastal law

Two layers of coastal rules apply on the Costa Blanca. The state Coastal Law (Ley 22/1988) defines the public beach domain and an easement strip inland where building is heavily restricted; some older seafront homes sit partly inside it. On top of that, the Valencian Community passed its own coastal law, Ley 3/2025 of 22 May on the protection and planning of the Valencian coast. It raises to law the zoning of undeveloped coastal land that was set by the PATIVEL plan of 2018, which protected rural land within the first 500 metres and between 500 and 1,000 metres of the shore.

The Spanish government has challenged parts of Ley 3/2025 before the Constitutional Court (recurso 1550-2026, published in the BOE in April 2026), mainly on building groups that may conflict with state coastal law. Until that is decided, treat any beachfront home, or any plan to build near the sea, as needing a specific coastal check.

Inland, the classic Costa Blanca risk is the country villa on rústico land with extensions, pools or conversions that never had a licence. Before you pay a deposit, compare the nota simple, the Catastro record and the town hall's planning file. If you are thinking of a plot, read our guide to buying land in Spain. You can start with our free property check: enter the address or referencia catastral and we reply by email.

Buying property in Alicante, Spain: what the official data says

The Colegio de Registradores' Estadística Registral Inmobiliaria for the second quarter of 2026 gives the clearest official picture:

• Average registered price in Alicante province: €2,267/m² in Q2 2026 (new build €2,780/m², resale €2,153/m²).
• Over the last four quarters Alicante averaged €2,194/m², 11.7% higher than a year earlier.
• Alicante city: €2,219/m², up 13.3% year on year (four-quarter average).
• 12,298 home sales were registered in the province in Q2 2026, the third highest of any province after Madrid and Barcelona.
• 46.43% of those purchases were by foreigners, the highest share in Spain. Nationally, British buyers were the largest foreign group at 6.99% of foreign purchases.

The INE housing price index points the same way: prices in the Valencian Community rose 13% year on year in Q2 2026, against 12.2% for Spain as a whole. These are averages across very different towns; a seafront flat in Jávea and an inland resale near Orihuela are different markets.

Buying property in Torrevieja, Benidorm or Jávea

South: Torrevieja and Orihuela Costa

Mostly apartments and townhouses in large urbanisations. Check community fees and debts, the community's rules on tourist lets, and that the property's description in the Registry matches what is built.

Centre: Alicante city and Benidorm

Urban flats and high-rise apartments. In Alicante city the tourist-licence freeze matters most; buy for your own use or long-term letting unless you have confirmed otherwise.

North: Jávea, Dénia, Moraira, Calpe and Altea

More villas on sloping plots and more rústico land. This is where unlicensed extensions, pools and coastal zoning issues are most likely, and where more homes pass the €1 million threshold for the 11% ITP band.

After you buy

Register the deed, set up the utilities and diarise the IBI and community fees. If you are not resident in Spain you owe non-resident income tax each year, even if you never let the home. To compare the Costa Blanca with other regions on tax, rental rules and price level, see our guide to the best places to buy property in Spain.