▶ Fotocasa | Homes and houses for sale in Spain 2025

Is it time for that sea change? To seek out the sun and the sea? Countryside panoramas? Or to venture into a genuinely cosmopolitan city with an exciting, new cultural angle into the bargain?

🔥 Buying Properties in Spain – A Review

Fotocasa is an excellent real estate portal offering a way into the Spanish property market, with professional expertise in property sales in Spain, and a great number of properties and services available. It has specialized services catering to the needs of the foreign buyer.

Through their fresh and easy to navigate website, you can search for your ideal new home to fit your unique dream. Whether you want to buy or rent, or want to buy into a new building project, how much you want to spend or if you have a particular location in mind, Fotocasa has a number of different search options to make it easy for you to find your perfect new home. The site can be accessed in Spanish, Catalan, and German as well as English.

🎯 Why Buy a Property in Spain?

More and more foreigners are looking for a property in sunny Spain, an escape from the humdrum cold weather, especially in winter. Spain offers a great climate, cheaper housing options, and a vibrant culture. Not only does it add spice to life, but it is an easy option for Europeans and north Americans, with a growing market dedicated to them. Fotocasa offers everything from homes to buy and rent for a permanent change, to vacation or as an investment or a new business opportunity.

7.3/10

Based on

3 categories

Reviewed by María Matos
Idealista Author

Fotocasa

Ads number 9

Trust 5

Communication 8

ADVANTAGE

Advanced Search Filters
Regular Updates
Professional Agency Support
Marketing for Sellers and Landlords

DISADVANTAGE

No Direct Property Verification
Focus on Larger Budgets
Over-Reliance on Agencies

🤔 What Types of Spanish Properties are there for Sale?

Fotocasa gives a range of search options for buying or renting including for a house or home, a garage, a new or almost complete construction, office or storage space or land. Some of the key areas of interest from foreign buyers include the following categories.

A Brand New Apartment: Choose a new, fully appointed apartment or construction near completion, with sea views, near the beach, or in a trendy new suburb of Madrid or Barcelona, or one of the latest glamour zones. Choose a balcony or rooftop, or one with to a pool.
Cheaper Apartments for all Budgets: Fotocasa also has plenty of options for the smaller budget. There are properties for under €100.000, including unique options such as the cave houses in the Granada region, your spot in the Spanish countryside, your home in the pleasant suburbs of Madrid or Barcelona, or your exclusive piece of home at the seaside.
Luxury Homes: Discover your luxury villa with seascape vistas in some of the exclusive areas of Costa del Sol or Costa Blanca, the expat havens. Find your historic appointed apartment or penthouse haven in the heart of the Madrid or Barcelona in the historical areas central to museums and culture, or surrounded by the Spanish outdoor restaurant and café lifestyle.
Terrace and Outdoors Lifestyle: Buy into one of the most popular lifestyles sought by new expats and buy your Spanish terrace – along the popular Costa del Sol or Costa Blanca coastline with the Mediterranean at your doorstep, your villa paradise with panoramic views across the tranquil countryside, or go offgrid and create your meditation and yoga retreat. Ibiza and the Canary Islands.

🔥 What areas are Popular to Buy in Spain?

Depending on what you want, anywhere in Spain could be your dream. Here are some of the more popular spots for foreigners buying property in Spain.

Madrid – The capital of Spain is a thriving city with great culture, night life and restaurants, museums and theatres, with the added value of the infrastructure for families, with great schools, health facilities, transport network, and connections to the rest of Spain and Europe.
Barcelona – For some, this city offers even more than Madrid. Not quite as big, but with an added cultural angle because of Gaudi’s influence, throw in beaches and the Pyrenees nearby, it is also just across the border from France and the Riviera, and is a hub of connections to the rest of Europe.
Andalucia – Offering the sun-soaked beaches of the Costa del Sol around Malaga, and the possibly even more popular Costa Blanca of Alicante, warm year round, loaded with stunning beaches and Mediterranean lifestyle. Near Valencia and the Moorish exotica of Granada and Cordoba, as well as also the hinterlands with their tranquil vistas. You even have easy access to Gibraltar and Morocco.
Seville – For those wanting a more sedate yet culture filled location, Seville is the stately historic and cultured city of Spanish dreams. It is in that region near the Portuguese border, scattered with countryside villages and the deep Spain.
The Islands – Ibiza, Mallorca and Menorca of the Balearic islands in the Mediterranean, and the Canary Islands in the tropical south and off the coast of Morocco offer an idyllic and exotic beach lifestyle, but still has the infrastructure without being remote.
Most Searched – Fotocasa also includes at the bottom of every page a list of most searched properties on their site, as well as for purchase and for rent. This way prospective buyers can hone in on what people are looking for to gauge the best current options, and maybe to see where the trends are heading.

❗How to Find your new Property in Spain

Fotocasa, has a range of tailored services designed to focus on the needs and wants of foreign buyers. Search By Route A fab search feature to find properties which are of interest to you.

Click on Search by Route
Choose the area you want to explore
Or give the address/name of the school or office you want to be near
Insert your maximum travel timeframe from that location
Choose your mode of transport – foot, bicycle, car or public transport
Click “Show Results” and explore

Fotocasa gives a list of options plus a map showing the area which fits your specifications. Choose your choices by price and/or location. Easy to use, this is a brilliant way of exploring your possibilities. If you register with Fotocasa, when you log in you can save your preferences for a compare and contrast.

📌 Neighborhood Guide

If your knowledge of the different areas in Spain is limited, Fotocasa’s Neighborhood Guide includes a great search option to find out more about any area you might be thinking about. Just enter the address or location of interest and Fotocasa will guide you around.

Photo Gallery – Check out what an area looks like through photos of places of interest in the neighborhood. It includes an option to have a virtual walk around the streets.

Opinions – Read reviews left by others to get an insight into the area as a place to live. Check out the score for different features:

Security
Parks and squares
Restaurants
For walking
For sports
How quiet
For children
For pets

Services – Check the availability of services in your chosen area, such as the convenience of public transport, schools or universities, and supermarkets, and the availability of health facilities such as hospitals and pharmacies.

Pricing – This useful feature gives you information on the average prices of housing in the area so you can be informed when deciding on where to buy and how much your property of interest should be. A graph showing property prices over the past few years lets you see how the market has been changing in that area.

Most Popular – In this section Fotocasa shows you the average prices in the 3 most popular zones of each of 6 different cities in Spain – Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Malaga, Zaragoza and Seville.

➡️ Value your HomeBottom of Form

In order to have a better idea of just what your chosen property might be worth, you can access Fotocasa’s online appraisal. Based on what information you have available, you can get a handy ball-park of how much you may need to pay.

There are just three simple steps.

Enter the address or cadastral number of the property
Add the details, such as number of bedrooms, bathrooms etc
Get an estimate based on Fotocasa market data

If it doesn’t cover official requirements, when is an online appraisal useful?

To buy or rent – to get an idea of the market range you may need to consider.
To sell your property, to give you an idea of starting price, and adjust for the special details of your property.
To set up your property for rent, giving you an idea of the competition in your area.
To help clarify whether to buy, sell or rent – this can change by the area.

➡️ Calculate your Mortgage

Another critical factor when buying a property in Spain is to take into account what you can afford in a mortgage. This useful section gives you a guide on how much various mortgage options might cost you on a monthly basis, as well as an excellent FAQ section answering many questions on the details of how mortgages work, especially for the uninitiated. To get an answer on how much a mortgage might cost you:

Enter the information requested on the property. This will include its location, property condition, and if you are going to live there. These are the things the bank will ask and uses when making their assessment of your mortgage application.
The simulation will throw up a figure based on your information. Manipulate your possible scenarios to find the option that suits you best.
Finally, check out the banks. This will help target your best options far more quickly by being able to directly access the banks which are most likely to suit you.

Fotocasa also has an excellent information section on this page, with some specific answers and advice. These articles might include:

What documents you will need to prepare for the bank
The sorts of things those new into the Spanish property market need to know
Profiles of others buying property in Spain – who else is looking for the same places and mortgages as you.
Everything you need to understand about the rental contract
Expenses incurred in the process of buying a property – Agency taxes, community fees..
Ongoing costs of owning your own home in Spain –
- Garbage tax
- Ongoing mortgage
- Insurance payments
- Utilities
- Maintenance
- Agency fees if you wish to rent to another
- Community fees and contributions
- Security

Not least of all, there is an excellent glossary at the bottom giving you clear definitions of the terminology used when talking about mortgages. Since you are entering into a legal document, it is important to understand what all these terms mean.

🛡️ Home Security

Remember to allow for the cost of insurance. Spain can have some very severe storms causing significant destruction and loss. There is no need to leave your property vulnerable to the the weather and other issues, so make sure your budget includes room for the insurance payments.

Furthermore, if you are planning to rent out your property even for a short period of time, you will need to look into landlord insurance, and covering yourself for any unexpected costs caused by bad tenants such as unpaid rent or significant damage.

🎁 Fotocasa promotes Grupo Mutua Propietarios.

Should I Buy Through an Agency?

Selling through an agency massively reduces the stresses, especially when buying across another language and cultural way of doing things.

An agency:

Has an intimate knowledge of the market and current trends and prices
Knows the area and what’s available
Have an up-to-date database making marriage of property to buyer easy
Can help with the negotiations because they understand the market and the locals
Saves you time and stress, mistakes, and can help sort the paperwork
Can give advice on realistic property improvement prospects

Here’s how Fotocasa can help you find an agent in 3 steps:

The property – provide the cadastral number or address you want
The details – providethe details specific to the property
The agency – Fotocasa will connect you to the agent representing your house

❤️ Our Verdict

Fotocasa is a great portal for your ventures into buying your piece of property in Spain. It is easy to navigate, with a great range of all the information you need to know in order to make your purchase. There are easy ways to find your house, to explore different neighborhoods or regions of Spain, to connect you up with a real estate agent. Features include saving your favourites, how to evaluate your house, what you need to do to secure a mortgage, and some of the hidden issues which are unique to Spain and may not be a part of buying a home in your own country.

Add all the details of what you need to know on how to buy your property and all the costs which are involved, and Fotocasa takes your search from a nightmare of hassles and language issues to a smooth journey to your dream home in the sun!

Stop putting your Spanish dream on hold. Join the many who are already enjoying the sun and everything a Spanish lifestyle has to offer. Check out Fotocasa now!

7.3/10

Based on

3 categories

Reviewed by María Matos
Idealista Author