Solenca · Market observatory
Costa Brava
Report
Edition no. 1 · Prime properties · August 2026
Fewer than a hundred prime properties for sale, trophy prices on a par with Madrid: the Costa Brava is not a small Marbella. It is a different market.
Scope. A full census of listings at or above 3 M€ along the coast of the two Empordà — Baix Empordà and its surroundings (Platja d'Aro, S'Agaró, Sant Feliu de Guíxols, Calonge, Palamós, Begur, Palafrugell, Pals, Regencós) and Alt Empordà (Cadaqués, Roses, Llançà, El Port de la Selva, L'Escala, Empuriabrava) — set against the same filter applied to the Barcelona coastline, Marbella, the Balearics and Madrid. Surveyed 19-20 August 2026. All prices are asking prices, not sale prices.
Source labels. Survey = Solenca count on the portals, uniform filter at or above 3 M€. Official = registries, notaries, INE, ministry. Agency = figures published by agencies, not audited.
Where the Costa Brava plays — the comparison
144
listings at or above 3 M€ across the whole coast of the two Empordà (~90 distinct properties) — fewer than Madrid's Salamanca district alone (358)
8 %
of Marbella: the entire Costa Brava offers 144 ultra-prime listings where Marbella shows 1,717 — and the Balearics 3,130
26 M€
the S'Agaró ceiling — the highest listing recorded in Catalonia outside Barcelona, ahead of Pedralbes (20 M€)
| Market | Listings ≥ 3 M€ | Visible ceiling | Prime €/m² benchmark |
|---|---|---|---|
| Costa Brava — the two EmpordàSurvey | 144 | 26 M€ (S'Agaró) | 6,000 – 7,850 (S'Agaró, Cadaqués) |
| SitgesSurvey | 37 | 11.9 M€ | ~15,500 max. observed |
| Maresme premium (4 municipalities)Survey | 45 | 17 M€ (Llavaneres) | — |
| Barcelona citySurvey | ~280 | 20 M€ (Pedralbes) | 7,100 – 7,600 (Pedralbes, Sarrià) |
| Madrid — Salamanca districtSurvey | 358 | — | 9,672 (max 18,147) |
| Madrid — La MoralejaSurvey | 116 | ~20 M€ | ~7,715 (+18.7 % / yr) |
| MarbellaSurvey | 1,717 | ~40 M€ (La Zagaleta) | 8,000 – 12,000 (Sierra Blanca) |
| Balearic Islands (province)Survey | 3,130 | — | — |
| — of which Andratx alone | 192 | — | — |
Raw counts under the same filter (≥ 3,000,000 €), surveyed 19-20/08/2026, not deduplicated outside the Costa Brava (orders of magnitude). €/m² benchmarks: Engel & Völkers 2025-26 report and agency sources 2025-26.
The reading
By volume, the Costa Brava is tiny. Andratx, a single Mallorcan municipality, offers more properties at or above 3 M€ (192) than the two Empordà combined (144). Marbella shows twelve times as many. This is not a mass luxury market, and it will not become one: planning rules have largely frozen the coastline, and no new front-line homes are being built.
By trophy price, it still plays with the biggest. The most expensive listings recorded in Catalonia: S'Agaró 26 M€, Roses 22 M€, Pedralbes 20 M€, Llavaneres 17 M€, Platja d'Aro 15.9 M€, Cadaqués 15 M€, Sitges 11.9 M€. Two of the three Catalan peaks sit on the Costa Brava.
Few properties, peak prices: this is a scarcity market, not a liquidity market. That single trait drives everything else — see part 04.
Andratx offers more prime properties than the whole Costa Brava. Yet the most expensive listing in Catalonia outside Barcelona is in S'Agaró. Small market, big trophies: the character of this coast sits in those two numbers.
The stock map, municipality by municipality
Baix Empordà and surroundings — the core of the market (87 % of the two Empordà stock)
| Municipality | Listings ≥ 3 M€ | Distinct properties (est.) | Asking range | Most expensive listing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Platja d'Aro (incl. Mas Nou) | ~30 | 17-18 | 3 – 15.9 M€ | 15.9 M€ · villa, 2,236 m² |
| S'Agaró | 16 | 7-8 | 3.5 – 26 M€ | 26 M€ · marketed off-portal |
| Sant Feliu de Guíxols | 18 | 11-12 | 3 – 9.5 M€ | 9.5 M€ · Punta Brava, seafront |
| Calonge (incl. Sant Antoni) | 28 | 10-12 | 3.5 – 4.95 M€ | 4.95 M€ · Torre Valentina |
| Palamós (incl. La Fosca) | 1 | 1 | — | 5.95 M€ · La Fosca, seafront |
| Begur (Sa Riera, Aiguablava) | 23 | 14-15 | 3.25 – 5 M€ | 5 M€ · Aiguablava |
| Palafrugell (Calella, Llafranc, Tamariu) | 8 | 5-6 | 3.15 – 9.5 M€ | 9.5 M€ · Tamariu, seafront (~19,800 €/m²) |
| Pals | 1 | 1 | — | 4.5 M€ · Els Masos, inland |
| Regencós | 0 | 0 | — | — |
| Total | 125 | ≈ 80 | 3 – 26 M€ | — |
Alt Empordà — the northern mirror, almost empty
| Municipality | Listings ≥ 3 M€ | Distinct properties (est.) | Most expensive listing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Roses | 6 | ~3 | 22 M€ · Puig Rom, 970 m² |
| El Port de la Selva | 5 | ~2 | 3.9 M€ |
| Cadaqués | 4 | 4 | 15 M€ · 625 m², atypical listing asking 24,000 €/m² |
| Castelló d'Empúries / Empuriabrava | 3 | ~1 | 4.1 M€ · inland masia |
| L'Escala | 1 | 1 | 3.2 M€ · Nucli Antic |
| Llançà | 0 | 0 | — |
| Total | 19 | ≈ 11 | — |
Surveyed 19-20/08/2026. Distinct properties: after cross-agency deduplication (the same villa appears up to five times; observed factor ×1.6-1.8). Ranges exclude listings marked price on application.Survey
What the map says
Cadaqués, the northern paradox: the most expensive village in Catalan luxury per square metre (~7,850 €/m², against ~6,000 in S'Agaró), yet only four properties for sale above 3 M€. Extreme scarcity, with no market depth. Worth noting: not a single canal villa in Empuriabrava above 3 M€.Agency
Deep ultra-prime fits in one triangle: above 8 M€, almost everything happens between S'Agaró, the Punta Brava headland in Sant Feliu and the heights of Platja d'Aro — seafront or front line, with almost no exception. Roses (22 M€) is the northern exception.
Begur is deep in prime, narrow in ultra-prime: 41 listings between 2 and 3 M€, the largest pool on the coast and the antechamber of the segment, but a ceiling around 5 M€. The exact opposite of S'Agaró.
Palamós, the anomaly: a single property on offer above 3 M€ across the whole municipality. The least supplied seafront on this coast.
Sea view drives the segment: 50 to 60 % of the stock at or above 3 M€ is seafront or has a direct sea view.
Who buys, and under what rules
25 %
of home purchases in the province of Girona in 2025 were signed by foreign buyers — 5th province in SpainOfficial
3,242 €/m²
average price paid by non-residents in Spain in H2 2025 (+5.8 % year on year) — they buy the top of the marketOfficial
50 % → 33 %
the French share of foreign purchases in Catalonia, 2019 → 2024 — still first, no longer dominantOfficial
The base is French, Belgian, German, Dutch; the margin is moving: Polish, Dutch, German and American buyers are rising (12.3 % of the buyers of one large luxury agency in Catalonia in 2025).Agency
One counter-signal to know: non-resident purchases in Spain fell 15 % in H2 2025, and Girona is the province that has lost the most relative appeal among them since 2019. Volume stays high; relative momentum is fading.Official
The 2026 framework in four facts: Catalan transfer tax reaches 13 % above 1.5 M€, around 360,000 € of duty on a 3 M€ resale (check the scale at the time of purchase) · the Golden Visa ended in April 2025, with no measured effect on this segment · the announced tax on non-EU buyers was never voted through, which makes it a narrative risk rather than a tax · tourist letting is closing down (Castell-Platja d'Aro frozen until 2028): use value and asset value now outweigh rental yield.Official
What a scarcity market changes, in practice
A market of fewer than a hundred properties does not behave like Marbella or Mallorca. Three practical consequences, for anyone who owns, sells or searches here. This part is Solenca analysis, built on the data above.
If you own: your property has no reliable comparable. In Marbella, seventeen hundred listings produce a readable market price. Here, a seafront villa is compared with three or four properties, often badly. The gap between a lazy valuation and real value runs into hundreds of thousands of euros, in both directions. Close knowledge of the micro-location — the cove, the orientation, the history of the building — is worth more than any algorithm.
If you sell: in a narrow market, presentation decides. Few buyers at any given moment, no queue: every viewing counts double, and a property that is poorly prepared or poorly told stays on the market. The survey shows properties listed for months with successive cuts. Conversely, documented upkeep and a complete property file make the difference, precisely because the buyer has almost nothing else to compare against.
If you buy: scarcity here is structural, not cyclical. The seafront is no longer being built; the stock does not replenish. The liquid antechamber of the market is the 2-3 M€ segment (Begur leads, 41 listings); above 8 M€ you enter a club of a handful of addresses where part of the transactions never reach the portals. The most expensive property in the survey (26 M€) is marketed off public listings.
In a market of a hundred properties, the information is not found on the portals. It is held.
Method, limits and sources
What we measured. Public listings at or above 3,000,000 € on 19-20 August 2026, under the same filter across every market compared, with estimated cross-agency deduplication on the Costa Brava (observed factor ×1.6-1.8; counts not deduplicated for Barcelona, Madrid, Marbella and the Balearics, which are orders of magnitude). Prices are asking prices; listings marked price on application are excluded from the ranges. Floor areas sometimes differ between listings for the same property: unit €/m² figures are orders of magnitude.
What we did not measure. Prices actually signed, which are not public at this granularity; off-market sales, frequent in this segment; the inventory of one international network not covered at the survey date, and that of specialised local agencies. No public statistic isolates the segment at or above 3 M€: that is the reason this report exists.
Sources. Official sources: Colegio de Registradores (2025 yearbook), Consejo General del Notariado / CIEN (H2 2025), MIVAU and INE, CaixaBank Research (Informe Sectorial Inmobiliario H2 2025), Decreto-ley 5/2025 (Catalonia), decrees 3/2023 and 159/2024 (tourist letting). Agency sources, unaudited and labelled as such: Engel & Völkers España-Andorra 2025-26, Lucas Fox/Dils, Barnes/iad, Drumelia/Nvoga/Inmolux (Marbella), specialist press 2025-26. Field survey: Solenca, 19-20/08/2026.
Next edition: first half of 2027, same scope, same method. The value of this report is in the series: what leaves the stock, what drops, what does not sell — edition no. 2 will say.
How to cite this report
Costa Brava Report no. 1, Solenca, August 2026 — solenca.es/rapport
You may reuse the figures, the tables and the data file — in the press, in a study or in an assistant's answer — provided you credit the source in this form.
Costa Brava Report · Edition no. 1 · August 2026 — produced by Solenca, prime property management on the Costa Brava. This document describes a market; it is neither investment advice nor a valuation of any individual property.
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