Spain's housing market is growing at its strongest pace since 2006, and the Costa Blanca is leading it.
I have gathered the figures that matter for you if you are considering a home at Las Colinas, in a 13-page report. Every figure comes from an official institution: Spain's statistics office INE, the valuation society Tinsa, the property registrars, the notaries, Banco de España and the ECB. Nothing is sourced from listing portals or another agency's marketing. Here is the picture in brief, and you can download the full report below.
Spanish prices rose 15.2 percent year on year in the second quarter of 2026, the strongest reading since 2006 (Tinsa). Alicante province stands at 20.8 percent, among the strongest in the country. Orihuela, the municipality Las Colinas belongs to, is at 17.4 percent.
Behind the numbers sits a structural deficit of roughly 750,000 homes (Banco de España). Registered sales in the province fell while prices accelerated. Fewer transactions at higher prices is what scarcity looks like in data.
International demand concentrates precisely here. Foreign buyers account for 44.7 percent of all purchases in Alicante, the highest share of any Spanish province. Non-resident international buyers pay an average of 3,242 euros per square metre, against 1,839 for Spanish buyers. That is the segment Las Colinas occupies.
The ECB raised its main rate a quarter point in June and held it in July, at 2.40 percent, far below the 4.50 peak of 2023. New Spanish mortgages average 2.98 percent, and six in ten new loans are at fixed rates. The Spanish economy is growing 2.7 percent, with unemployment below 10 percent for the first time in nearly two decades.
For a sterling buyer there is one more number that counts: the pound has held between 0.85 and 0.87 to the euro all year, with the Bank Rate at 3.75 percent. Euro asset prices are currently rising faster than the exchange rate is moving, so the currency question is one of timing preference, not a moving target. Exchange rates can move both ways, and your exposure to the euro runs through the whole period of ownership.
A sale price is a completed fact. An asking price is what an owner believes today's market supports. Three current examples from the resort's resale market:
Two of the three starting points are completed sales; the third compares asking prices at both ends. Asking prices are not completed sales, and eventual sums may differ. But the direction is consistent with the official indices for this exact area.
The apartment communities are nearly gone. Citrus has 21 of 26 homes sold, Azahar 21 of 24. Buganvilla, the resort's newest apartment community, was brought forward half a year because so little remained for sale. Nine of its 28 apartments had sold by the end of July, from 480,000 euros, before most of the market had heard the name.
The villa collections, launched more recently, still offer real choice: Arbórea Phase I from 1,395,000 euros, the Lima Collection from 1,090,000 euros.
I never advise anyone to rush a decision of this size. I do advise being honest about the direction: every price list this year has been higher than the one before it, and the lock-and-leave apartments are what sells out first. If an apartment fits your plans, understand the current availability sooner rather than later. I will tell you plainly if what you want is no longer there.
Short-term holiday letting in the Valencian region requires a tourist rental licence (VUT registration). In my direct experience assisting buyers through this process, approvals in this municipality are currently taking at least 18 to 30 months. This is a clerical backlog at local council level, outside the control of any buyer, any advisor and the developer. Every property at Las Colinas is built to conform with the technical requirements a rental licence demands. The wait is administrative, not a question of whether the property qualifies.
Once licensed, observed holiday rates on and around the resort point to a gross of 35,000 to 50,000 euros for an owner letting 16 to 20 weeks a year. After running costs, the arithmetic points to a net rental result in the low single digits per year, before Spanish non-resident income tax, and only from the point a licence exists. No rental income of any kind should be assumed before then. If your purchase only makes sense with rental income from year one, the current timeline does not support that plan, and I will tell you so directly. If the property is first a home you intend to enjoy, with rental as a later option, the backlog is an inconvenience rather than an obstacle.
Budget 13 to 14 percent on top of the list price, all in: 10 percent IVA on new-build, 1.4 percent stamp duty (AJD) in the Valencian region, and roughly 1.5 to 2.5 percent for notary, registry and legal fees. Resale purchases are taxed differently, with transfer tax instead of IVA; ask me and I will set out that case separately.
Stage payments on new developments are secured by bank guarantees, a legal requirement in Spain: if a developer failed to deliver, guaranteed amounts are recoverable. At Las Colinas there is a second layer. The developer is the same group that owns and operates the resort itself, and has built and delivered here continuously since the estate opened. You are not buying from a project company that disappears after the last unit sells.
My standing advice to every client: appoint your own independent Spanish lawyer at the reservation stage, before the first substantial payment. I can introduce trusted professionals, and you should feel equally free to choose your own, because their independence is the point. You will always get my professional view, built on 35 years of experience. And then I challenge you to take my advice to an independent advisor of your own choosing, and test it. Good advice survives a second opinion.
The report runs to 13 pages, with a dated source for every figure: the price indices, the rate trajectory, availability by community, the rental rules as they stand in July 2026, and the complete cost picture.
Download The State of Real Estate, July 2026 (PDF)
I work with a handful of families each year, and I handle all my clients personally, as my credibility depends on the client experience being of the highest level. My focus is on quality and not volume. If you're considering a home at Las Colinas as part of the next phase in your life and you'd like to understand how I work, I will make myself available for a conversation with you.
Las Colinas | A World Apart