Buying a property in the Balearics

Question 1

Where do prices stand, island by island?

Accepted Answer

Ibiza above 7,000 euros per m² in asking prices, Mallorca between 2,500 and 5,257 depending on the area. Two different measures, not to be confused. Ibiza's three busiest municipalities all advertise above 7,000 euros per m². On the Mallorcan side, second-hand property trades at 5,257 euros per m² in the capital and falls back towards 2,500 inland. The top of the market escapes both series. On a property that meets the shore, reducing value to a price per square metre teaches nothing: what counts is how many equivalent addresses exist on the island, and they can be counted on one hand.

Question 2

What costs are added to the purchase price?

Accepted Answer

A banded transfer duty, and the costs tied to completion. Transfer tax follows a progressive scale that starts at 8 % and tops out at 13 % on the highest slice. Since each rate applies only to the band it covers, the rate actually borne always stays below the highest one reached. A new-build sold by a developer falls under VAT instead, together with stamp duty. That leaves the notary, land registration and, in almost every file, the lawyer handling the legal review. Those three are priced while the budget is being built, since they shift it as much as a successful negotiation does.

Question 3

Can you let what you buy?

Accepted Answer

Only if the property already holds a licence, and no new ones are created. No new tourist letting place has been created anywhere in the archipelago since February 2022. Buying a house, however new and however perfect, opens no right to take guests in it. The remaining routes differ by island: on Mallorca a pool opening three times a year redistributes released places, at around 3,500 euros each, by draw since March 2026; in Palma, no new place at all since February 2026; on Ibiza, a place is activated only against one struck off. This is verified before the offer, not after the preliminary contract.

Question 4

What has to be checked before signing?

Accepted Answer

That the documents match the ground, and the limits the shoreline imposes. The land registry, the permits and what actually stands are compared item by item. On older houses across both islands it is far from rare for an extension never to have reached the file, and putting it right stays uncertain as soon as a protected area is involved. Then comes the coast. The 1988 law places the shoreline in inalienable public domain, requires a 6-metre strip to stay clear for the public on foot, and imposes a 100-metre protection easement inland, cut to 20 metres in areas built up before that date. A property near the water is read first against those limits, which govern what may and may not be altered.

Question 5

Which island resells more easily?

Accepted Answer

The south-west of Mallorca, then Ibiza, then the rest of the archipelago. Liquidity follows the depth of the market and the steadiness of demand. Around Palma, from Son Vida to Port d'Andratx, international buyers come forward all year, carried by the airport and the schools: that is where a resale closes fastest. Ibiza sells well but in waves, across a short coastal band and on demand heavily concentrated in summer. The Mallorcan range trades little: stone houses with a view rarely change hands there, which lengthens the time to resell as much as it protects the value. The choice therefore turns on how long you intend to hold.

Villas for Sale in the Balearic Islands

Luxury Villas for Sale in the Balearic Islands

Villa Sol

Waterfront villa Cap Martinet

Villa Cactus

515 m² villa with 6 suites in Ibiza

Villa 280 m² with pool

Luxury villa facing the golf course with 5 suites in Ibiza

Sea & golf view villa with 4 suites Ibiza

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Buying a property in the Balearics