Commercial premises in Alicante: 9.9% gross yield in 2026

Walk down Maisonnave at eleven on a morning and the air still carries fresh coffee. The shoe shop's window lights up, the barista on the corner pulls up the shutter, and three doors further a sign reads se vende. It isn't a failure. It's the doorway into the other Alicante where people invest, the one almost nobody tells you about.

In January 2026 Idealista closed last year's numbers in the city and commercial premises took first place in gross yield: 9.9%. Rental housing came in well below, at 6.2%. Offices sat in between at 7.1%. Those three numbers explain why more investors are looking at ground floors.

The streets that move retail brick

Maisonnave is the most expensive avenue in the city. One hundred square metres at the top end can ask 5,300 euros a month, more than 50 euros per square metre. It is not for everyone. It is for brands that need flagship visibility.

Calle Castaños tells another story. It is the heart of nightlife and restaurants. Bars, pubs and premises with an existing licence rent in more reasonable ranges, around 2,500 to 2,800 euros a month for a bar-format space.

The Mercado Central is a case apart. You don't buy ownership, you buy a concession: the building on Avenida Alfonso el Sabio belongs to the city council and stalls are transferred until 2041, when the concession is renegotiated. A 55-square-metre stall with active use rights is offered these months for 230,000 euros with no monthly rent, only a quarterly fee of 700 euros.

Beyond the centre, Carolinas Bajas, Garbinet and the neighbourhoods north of Avenida Denia offer higher yields in exchange for less foot traffic. The city average sale price hovers around 1,422 euros per square metre, and the average rent sits at 6.6 euros monthly per metre. Averaging at this scale hides a lot: real ranges go from 4 euros in a secondary street to 53 in the heart of Maisonnave.

VAT or ITP: the first tax decision

Before signing earnest money it is worth knowing which tax the notary will apply. The rule is who sells.

If you buy from a developer or a company holding the premises as an asset, you pay VAT at 21%. If you buy from a private individual, the Property Transfer Tax (ITP) applies instead, managed by the Generalitat Valenciana, with a general rate of 10% on commercial premises in the Valencian Community. When both parties are businesses and the buyer benefits from deducting VAT, the seller can waive the VAT exemption and apply VAT on a second transmission.

Adding up VAT or ITP, stamp duty, notary, registry and gestoría fees, acquisition costs land between 8% and 13% of the price. That's the first number your spreadsheet needs to fit before you fall in love with the yield.

Buying empty or by traspaso

There are two ways into a commercial space. One is buying the property vacant. The other is entering through traspaso: you pay the outgoing tenant to step into their lease, you inherit the licences and sometimes the customers and the fittings.

A traspaso saves you the works and the paperwork, and places you inside a business that is already running. But you pay for something intangible: the goodwill. In areas like the Mercado Central, traspasos hover around 230,000 euros for small stalls with active concessions. On secondary streets the price drops quickly, and in hospitality the figure depends on the kitchen's condition and whether the licence includes a smoke vent, a piece of paper worth its weight in gold.

The tenant, the law and the term

Commercial leases are governed by Law 29/1994 on Urban Tenancies, but with one crucial difference from housing: here, what the parties sign rules. The minimum legal term that protects a residential tenant does not exist. If you and the tenant agree five years, it is five years. If you agree one, it is one.

The mandatory deposit is two months of rent, not one. Additional guarantees have no cap: bank guarantees, larger deposits, personal guarantors. During the first five years, or seven if the landlord is a legal entity, the deposit is not updated. From the first extension onwards, it can be.

These margins give you a bargaining power you don't have renting a flat. They also protect you: a strong tenant will accept obligations a weak one will refuse.

What the floor plan does not tell you

A floor plan tells you square metres. A commercial space tells you more if you know how to look at it. Frontage matters more than depth: two 80-square-metre units, one with 4 metres of window and another with 10, are not worth the same on the market. Free ceiling height defines what you can fit inside (mezzanine, high storage). And a pre-existing smoke vent is worth diamonds if you plan to lease to restaurants: installing one later can be impossible in older community buildings without an express vote.

Check the contracted electrical power and the calibre of the water connection too. Going from 5 kW to 25 kW for a kitchen, or upsizing the water intake, are costs the agent does not mention and can add up to several thousand euros before opening day.

Licences and refurbishment: the hidden cost

Before you collect the first rent, the unit has to be able to open. Alicante's Urbanism Department processes most innocuous activities through a declaración responsable, a responsible declaration. The fee runs from 201.57 euros for premises under 100 square metres to 827.51 euros above 500. The declaration lets you start activity without waiting for authorisation; the council can inspect later.

Refurbishment is another number you can't dodge. A basic refit in Alicante (paint, floor, LED lighting) costs between 300 and 500 euros per square metre. A medium reshuffle with new ceilings and partitions climbs to 600 or 900. A full hospitality project, with extraction and industrial kitchen standards, starts at 1,000 euros per metre and rises quickly.

Honest arithmetic

The 9.9% from Idealista is gross. Subtract from it council property tax, community fees, multi-risk insurance, special levies, vacancy windows between tenants and the unit's natural wear. What ends up in the owner's hand usually lands between 5% and 7% net in a well-structured operation. Still above housing, but with a different risk profile: a vacant commercial space can sit empty for months, while a flat in Alicante rarely waits more than three weeks for demand.

Retail changes fast. Online shopping has hollowed out secondary streets across Spain and hospitality has filled the main ones. Before signing, walk the street on three different afternoons and count how many shutters are still up. It is the cheapest and least misleading indicator there is.

At ESYS VIP we help you read these details before committing to a signature. You can explore our properties or contact us if you'd like to talk through your next move at your own pace.