Foreign Buyer Ban on Mallorca: Where the Debate Stands

In February 2026, a ban on foreigners buying property on Mallorca came before the Balearic Parliament for the first time as a concrete bill. The bill failed, but the debate behind it is far from over. If you want to buy a home on the island or already own one, headlines like these leave you with an uneasy feeling: will I still be allowed to buy here as a foreigner? The short answer is yes. As of August 2026, there is no restriction based on residence or nationality. This post sorts out what was actually put to a vote, why it was rejected, and what you should keep in mind when buying property on Mallorca right now.

A purchase ban for non-residents is a legal rule that ties the acquisition of residential property to a permanent residence in the region. Anyone not registered locally would then be unable to buy at all, or only under certain conditions. No such rule exists in the Balearic Islands so far, but it has been a political demand for years.

What Parliament decided in February 2026

On 24 February 2026, the Balearic Parliament rejected the bill from the regional party Més per Mallorca by 30 votes to 23. The governing conservative PP and Vox refused even to admit it to the parliamentary procedure, so there was never a substantive debate. The social democrats of the PSIB voted in favour of debating it despite their own legal concerns, as did Més per Menorca and Unidas Podemos.

The same day, a second bill from Unidas Podemos also failed. It proposed higher taxes on speculative property transactions. The PP doubted that speculation could be defined in a legally sound way and saw conflicts with EU law.

An important point for context: what was rejected was an opposition proposal. The regional government itself is not planning any purchase restriction. By its own account, it is betting on new construction and on housing programmes reserved for residents. You can find the session minutes and the bill text at the Parlament de les Illes Balears.

What the bill would have done

Més wanted to tie the purchase of housing to residence on the islands. Municipalities with a particularly high share of second homes or holiday rentals would have been able to block sales to non-residents for a limited time. The party backed this with housing crisis figures: 82 percent of homes built in recent years had not become primary residences, and only 17 percent had gone to families as their main home. In some municipalities, 30 percent of homes were said to be empty while more than 40 percent were used for tourism.

Legally, Més relied on a 2023 reply from the European Commission. According to that reply, restrictions on property purchases are conceivable in exceptional situations, provided they are proportionate and time-limited. The PP disagreed: private owners cannot be told to whom and at what price they may sell. A blanket ban would violate the Spanish constitution and the EU's free movement of capital. Restrictions would at most be permissible for publicly subsidised housing. An earlier attempt by the Balearic Islands to limit property purchases by foreigners had already been turned down by Brussels.

Which rules apply to buyers today

If you are a buyer without residence in Spain, the vote changes nothing for you. The same rules apply as before:

• You can buy residential property on Mallorca regardless of your nationality, and you do not need to live in Spain to do so. All you need is an NIE number and a bank account to handle the transaction. Owning property does not by itself grant a right to stay, so non-EU citizens still need to plan their visits within the usual visa rules.
• The property transfer tax (ITP) in the Balearic Islands is tiered from 8 to 13 percent of the purchase price. The current rates are published by the Balearic tax agency ATIB. How notary, land registry and gestoría fees add to that is worked through in our post on the costs of buying property.
• As a non-resident you pay non-resident income tax (IRNR) every year on a notional rental value, plus the municipal property tax IBI. Above a certain level of assets, wealth tax comes on top.
• If you want to rent the property to holidaymakers, you need a holiday rental licence. On Mallorca, new licences have effectively not been issued for years. That is the restriction you actually feel, not the purchase itself.

Can non-residents still buy property on Mallorca in 2026?

Yes. There is no restriction based on residence or nationality. The Balearic Parliament rejected the proposed purchase ban on 24 February 2026. Non-residents pay the same purchase taxes as residents, plus the annual non-resident tax IRNR.

Where the debate goes from here

The topic is not off the table. In January 2026, the Spanish central government asked the European Commission for permission to limit property purchases in the Canary Islands where the property is not used as a home. The Balearic Islands are excluded from that request because, unlike the Canaries, they are not classed as an outermost region. That is exactly what will fuel the next round: according to notary data, the average price per square metre in the Balearics is around EUR 4,000, well above the level in the Canaries, so calls for equal treatment are correspondingly loud.

Should Brussels approve the Canary Islands model, pressure will likely grow to request something similar for the Balearics. Until then, it remains a matter of announcements: the regional government is working on an emergency plan for affordable housing reserved for residents, and the opposition will bring its bills back in a new form. A purchase ban in the short term is unlikely. Higher tax pressure on second homes and empty properties is quite plausible.

Conclusion

The foreign buyer ban on Mallorca failed in Parliament in February 2026 before it was even debated. For buyers from abroad, the position remains: you can buy without being resident in Spain, and what makes it expensive is mainly the tiered ITP and the ongoing taxes for non-residents. If you are buying now, keep an eye on the debate anyway, because on holiday rentals and second home taxes the political direction is clear. How the purchase itself works step by step is explained in our guide to buying property on Mallorca.