Canary Islands mortgages fall 11.2 per cent as property prices rise

The mortgage market in the Canary Islands saw a noticeable lull in July. According to figures from the statistics office ISTAC, 2,106 new mortgages were taken out. This was 11.2 per cent fewer than in the same month last year. As a result, the level of lending for home purchases on the islands fell clearly below the previous year’s figure for the first time in a long while.

At the same time, price trends are pointing in the opposite direction: the ISTAC housing price index rose by 11 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2025 compared with the same quarter the previous year, reaching 179 points. The fact that property prices have now been soaring for 49 consecutive quarters demonstrates how the cost of housing in the Canary Islands has been rising continuously for years. Even the latest record figures for prices per square metre offer little hope of a reversal in this trend.

Until recently, the statistics had pointed in the opposite direction: price pressures had driven more island residents into taking out mortgages. The July figures have now reversed this trend. Politically, meanwhile, the debate is shifting towards the buyers‘ side. The Canary Islands government is now attempting to push through restrictions in Brussels on the purchase of second homes by foreign investors.

Canary Islands lobby in Dublin for limits on property purchases

As the Canary Islands government announced on Monday, President Fernando Clavijo is spending three days in Dublin for this purpose. A meeting is planned there with John Cummins, the Irish Minister of State for Housing, Local Government and Heritage. Both sides announced that they would compare their approaches to access to affordable housing. Ireland holds the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union for the second half of the year.

Clavijo intends to discuss with the Irish Government the strategy by which the Canary Islands aim to restrict the purchase of second homes by foreign nationals in Brussels. The draft European legislation on affordable housing already offers tight housing markets the opportunity to protect market access for the local population.

The Canary Islands now wish to pursue this course of action and are seeking Dublin’s backing in the relevant debates in Brussels. Ireland is familiar with this issue: there, particularly in the capital and its surrounding area, authorities are grappling with rapidly rising demand and a severe shortage of flats and houses.