CANARY ISLANDS PROPERTY MARKET: MORTGAGES DROP IN JULY – BUT LANZAROTE TELLS A DIFFERENT STORY
The latest official housing figures for the Canary Islands have produced a mixed picture for anyone watching the property market, with a sharp fall in new home mortgages across the archipelago in July – while Lanzarote recorded a very different result.
According to the latest provisional figures from Spain's National Statistics Institute (INE), 1,557 mortgages were registered against homes in the Canary Islands in July 2026. That was 18.4% fewer than in July 2025, when 1,933 were recorded.
The figure is significant because the fall in the Canary Islands was considerably larger than the decline across Spain as a whole. Nationally, 43,372 new mortgages were registered against homes in July, down 3.5% year on year.
However, the Canary Islands figures should not be read as a simple sign that buyers have suddenly disappeared from the property market. Mortgage registrations measure newly constituted mortgages recorded in the property registers, and monthly figures can move around considerably. They are also not the same thing as the number of homes sold.
LANZAROTE STANDS OUT
For Lanzarote, the picture is particularly interesting.
While the Canary Islands as a whole recorded an 18.4% annual fall in July, Lanzarote saw 246 new home mortgages registered during the month. According to the Canary Islands Statistics Institute (ISTAC), that represented an increase of 151% compared with July 2025.
Lanzarote has also recorded strong growth over the first seven months of 2026. Between January and July, the number of home mortgages registered on the island was 64% higher than during the same period of 2025.
That makes Lanzarote something of an exception within the wider Canary Islands mortgage market.
The figures for the other islands were mixed. Gran Canaria recorded growth of 1.2% over the January-to-July period, while El Hierro increased by 41.7%. Fuerteventura, Tenerife, La Palma and La Gomera recorded falls over the same period.
Overall, 10,254 home mortgages were registered across the Canary Islands between January and July 2026, a small increase of 0.3% compared with the same period of 2025.
WHAT ABOUT THE MONEY BEING BORROWED?
The number of mortgages is only part of the story.
Across the Canary Islands, the total amount of mortgage lending attached to homes in July was around €240.04 million. That was only 0.7% below the €243.90 million recorded in July 2025.
This means the value of lending fell much less sharply than the number of mortgage operations.
The national figures show an even clearer difference. Across Spain, the average new home mortgage in July 2026 was €180,785, up 10.9% from a year earlier.
The average interest rate on newly constituted home mortgages was 3.01%, according to the INE. Of the new mortgages nationally, 62.3% were fixed-rate and 37.7% were variable-rate.
CANARY ISLANDS HOUSE PRICES ARE STILL RISING
The mortgage figures also need to be considered alongside other housing data.
The Canary Islands Statistics Institute reported recently that the average assessed value of unrestricted housing in the Canary Islands reached €2,279.40 per square metre in the second quarter of 2026. That was 14.2% higher than a year earlier.
So, although mortgage activity in July was weaker across the archipelago, property values were still considerably higher than they had been a year earlier.
For people looking at the Lanzarote property market, this is an important distinction. A fall in the number of new mortgages does not automatically mean that house prices are falling.
WHY THIS MATTERS TO LANZAROTE RESIDENTS AND BUYERS
For local residents, the figures underline how complicated the Canary Islands housing market has become.
Higher property values can make it more difficult for first-time buyers and local households to enter the market, particularly when combined with the cost of borrowing and the need for a substantial deposit.
For overseas buyers considering buying property in Lanzarote, the latest figures provide another useful piece of information rather than a simple market signal. Lanzarote's mortgage activity has been notably stronger than the Canary Islands average so far in 2026.
Anyone considering buying a property in Puerto del Carmen, Playa Blanca, Costa Teguise, Tías, Yaiza or elsewhere on the island should look at several indicators rather than relying on a single month's mortgage figures.
THE BIGGER PICTURE FOR LANZAROTE PROPERTY
The July figures show just how different the housing market can look from one island to another.
Across the Canary Islands, new home mortgages fell sharply in July. Yet Lanzarote recorded a substantial year-on-year increase in mortgage registrations during the same month and strong growth over the first seven months of the year.
At the same time, official housing valuation figures show that property values across the Canary Islands remain well above their level a year earlier.
For anyone following Lanzarote property prices, buying a home in Lanzarote, mortgages in Spain or the wider Canary Islands property market, the message from the latest data is that there is no single story.
The market is changing, but the direction is not identical everywhere – and Lanzarote is currently showing a noticeably different pattern from the archipelago as a whole.
