Spain mortgage market: 52% of loans signed by two borrowers, foreign borrowers 11.8%

Spanish notaries recorded 2,975,628 pre‑contract transparency acts and 2,465,371 mortgage loans between 2020 and 2025. The majority of these loans – 52.2% – were signed by two borrowers, while 46.2% involved a single borrower and only 1.6% had three or more co‑debtors. Foreign borrowers accounted for a stable 11.8% of all mortgages, a share that has risen 2.4‑fold since 2019. Regional differences were noted: Extremadura, Galicia and Madrid had the highest share of two‑borrower loans, whereas Baleares showed the greatest proportion of foreign borrowers and Extremadura the lowest.

Mortgage activity grew 34.4% in 2021 and 4.2% in 2022, fell 21.4% in 2023, then recovered with increases of 20.6% in 2024 and 14.5% in 2025, reaching a peak of 449,421 loans in 2025. Men comprised 51.8% of loan participants nationwide.

In parallel, Spain’s Supreme Court has altered the fiscal responsibility for the Impuesto de Actos Jurídicos Documentados (AJD). Initial rulings in 2015 and early 2018 placed the tax burden on borrowers, but an October 2018 decision shifted liability to banks, a stance that remains in effect pending further review.