Asking prices across the province of Girona rose 11.2% in the year to September 2026, and one in four homes sold in the province last year went to a foreign buyer.

The Costa Brava is also the part of Catalonia where the rules on holiday lets are about to bite hardest. If you are buying here in 2026, you need to understand both stories at once. Here they are.

Where Prices Stand, Town by Town

These are average asking prices per square metre from Fotocasa for September 2026, with the change over twelve months:

Cadaqués: €6,158 (−6.5%)
Begur: €4,175 (+3.1%)
Castell-Platja d'Aro, which includes S'Agaró: €4,034 (+8.6%)
Roses: €3,489 (+7.1%)
Tossa de Mar: €3,451 (+10.6%)
Pals: €3,388 (+9.4%)
L'Escala: €3,174 (+4.4%)
Sant Feliu de Guíxols: €3,091 (+17.5%)
Lloret de Mar: €2,581 (+8.2%)
Palafrugell: €2,317 (+3.1%)
Girona province overall: €2,795 (+11.2%)

Two things stand out.

First, the famous names are no longer the fastest risers. Begur and Cadaqués trail the province, while Sant Feliu de Guíxols and Tossa de Mar lead it. The market is moving to places that were cheaper five years ago.

Second, treat municipal averages with care. These are asking prices, not sale prices, and one figure per municipality hides enormous spreads. Palafrugell's average blends the inland town with its coastal villages of Calella, Llafranc and Tamariu. A village house and a first-line villa in the same municipality are different markets.

Who Is Buying

Foreigners bought 25% of the homes sold in Girona province in 2025, the fifth-highest share in Spain and almost double the national average of 13.8%. In Catalonia, French buyers lead the foreign market.

That matters for pricing. On much of this coast you are bidding against international capital, not just local demand.

The Licence Question

This is where 2026 buyers need to slow down.

Catalan Decree-law 3/2023 applies to 262 municipalities with housing pressure or a high density of tourist flats — and it covers most of the prime Costa Brava: Begur, Pals, Palafrugell, Cadaqués, Roses, L'Escala, Palamós, Lloret de Mar, Tossa de Mar, Castell-Platja d'Aro, Sant Feliu de Guíxols and Torroella de Montgrí, among others.

In those towns:

No new tourist-flat licences can be granted until the town council adapts its urban plan
Once adapted, a plan can allow at most 10 tourist flats per 100 inhabitants
Existing tourist flats must apply for a new five-year urban-planning licence by November 2028, extendable in some cases

The scale of the adjustment is striking. Pals has around 1,412 tourist flats for about 2,500 inhabitants; under the cap it would be allowed 258. L'Escala would have to go from 2,430 to 1,220.

And the rule is durable. Spain's Constitutional Court upheld the decree in March 2025, an attempt to soften it lapsed in 2024, and in June 2026 the Catalan Parliament rejected a bill to repeal it.

A related national change is worth knowing too: in May 2026 Spain's Supreme Court annulled the national short-term rental registration number. That does not open any doors on the Costa Brava. Catalan licensing and registration still apply.

My rule is simple. Never pay a premium for a property because it "has a licence" until you have confirmed three things: that the licence is valid and registered, what the town's plan will allow after 2028, and — for apartments — whether the community of owners has approved tourist use.

Long-Term Lets Are Regulated Too

If holiday lets are uncertain, long lets are not a free alternative. Much of the Costa Brava is declared a stressed residential market, where rent caps apply — including Begur, Pals, Cadaqués, L'Escala, Roses, Castell-Platja d'Aro, Palafrugell, Palamós, Lloret de Mar, Tossa de Mar, Sant Feliu de Guíxols, Torroella de Montgrí and Calonge i Sant Antoni.

Since 1 January 2026, Catalan Law 11/2025 also applies those caps to seasonal contracts that in practice meet a housing need, unless a genuine temporary purpose is stated and documented. A constitutional challenge is pending, but the law is in force.

What It Costs to Buy

Resale. Catalan transfer tax is progressive: 10% up to €600,000, 11% up to €900,000, 12% up to €1.5 million and 13% above.

New build. 10% VAT plus 1.5% stamp duty on the deed.

On top. Notary, land registry and independent legal advice. On a resale, budget roughly 10–14% of the price for the total, depending on the price band. I break the numbers down in our region-by-region guide to buying costs.

If you let to tourists. Since 1 April 2026, guests in tourist flats outside Barcelona pay a tourist tax of €1.75 per person per night, rising to €2.50 from 1 April 2027. Town councils can add a surcharge for stays from 1 October 2026.

Getting There

For many of my French clients, this is the Costa Brava's quiet advantage. Girona is on the high-speed line that runs from Barcelona to Perpignan, Montpellier, Marseille and Lyon, so a weekend house here can be a train ride from home.

How I Would Buy on the Costa Brava in 2026

Buy for use and long-term value first. Treat holiday-let income as an upside, not the business plan, unless the licence and the post-2028 position are confirmed in writing.

Price the village, not the municipality. Ask for recent comparable sales in the specific street or urbanisation, not the town average.

Check which list the town is on. The licensing regime is decided town by town. If short-let income matters to you, include municipalities outside the 262 in your search.

Watch where the market is moving. The strongest price growth this year was not in the most famous towns.

The Costa Brava remains one of the most beautiful places in Europe to own a home. In 2026 it rewards buyers who do their homework on the rules as carefully as on the view.

Looking at the Costa Brava? Contact us at info@weigsding-investments.com or message us on WhatsApp. We work in Portuguese, Spanish, English and French, and we will tell you plainly what a property's licence, price and paperwork really support.

This article is general information, not investment, legal or tax advice. Prices are asking prices for the periods cited and will change. Licensing and rental rules are applied municipality by municipality and are subject to change. Verify the current position for a specific property before purchasing.

Sources

Fotocasa, housing price index for Girona province and municipalities (September 2026)
Diari Catalunya, "One in four homes in Girona purchased by foreign buyers" (11 April 2026), citing Colegio de Registradores data
Generalitat de Catalunya, Decree-law 3/2023 on tourist-use dwellings and the list of the 262 affected municipalities
3Cat, on the tourist-flat cap on the Costa Brava (25 February 2026)
BOE, Constitutional Court judgment 64/2025 (13 March 2025)
Crónica Global, on the Catalan Parliament's rejection of the repeal bill (30 June 2026)
El País, on the Supreme Court's annulment of the national short-term rental registry (21 May 2026)
Generalitat de Catalunya, list of municipalities declared stressed residential markets
BOE-A-2026-13028, constitutional challenge to Catalan Law 11/2025 (16 June 2026); Mes Advocats, on Law 11/2025
Agència Tributària de Catalunya, transfer tax and stamp duty rates; tourist tax rates (2026)
Renfe, AVE France routes