Home purchases by foreigners in Spain have not stopped increasing in recent years. Before the pandemic hampered international travel, buyers from outside our borders accounted for 16.9% of all operations in 2019. After a correction in 2020 and 2021, they exceeded the following percentage in 2022: 18.7% of the houses on the market were bought by non-Spanish citizensalmost one in five.
Although last year’s figures were among the highest in the historical series, it was exceeded in 2015, reaching a market share of 19.3%. But,only 77,530 houses were sold to foreigners that year, and 133,221 houses were sold in 2022.. In absolute terms, this means that the number of properties acquired is much higher in 2022.
“The slowdown and uncertainty caused by the pandemic in international housing demand in our country are now a thing of the past. While it recovered 30% in 2022 compared to the previous year, it was only 2.2% at the national level. Other words, Foreign demand increased 14 times more than that of Spanish nationals. In addition, home purchases by foreigners, which is one of the key factors in the stability and growth of the Spanish tourist-housing market, the number of units already exceeds pre-pandemic values,” explains the latest Report ‘Real Estate Status by the valuation company Euroval and the Institute of Real Estate Analysis’.
In which area do foreigners buy more?
Home purchases by non-residents are mainly concentrated on the coast, with some oddities. MadridIt attracts international attention due to its capital factor. In this area almost 10% of transactions were made by foreigners. The same thing happens in Barcelona, where tourism, as well as the economic and commercial component of the city, is affected.
The figures for the two largest cities in Spain are well below the archipelago, the coast of Valencia or the Costa del Sol. Balearic IslandsWhere Two out of every five homes are bought by foreigners (41.3%). However, there are two regions with absolute greater weight: Out of a total of 10 residences purchased by foreigners, 3 are in the Valencian Community and 2 are in Andalusia..
“Foreigners’ house sales are concentrated in coastal provinces and island provinces. The five coastal provinces account for about 75% of the total.: Alicante (22.4%), Malaga (13%), Barcelona (7.4%), Madrid (6.1%), Valencia (6.0%), Balearic Islands (5.8%), Murcia ( 4.9%), Tenerife (4.9%) and Las Palmas (4%)” added the study.
Where do they buy less?
There are many regions on the peninsula where foreigners hardly buy houses. Mostly Atlantic bow, where they do not reach 5% of the market share. This is the case of Galicia, the Basque Country or Cantabria, representing only 4.5%, 4.8% and 5.1% in each community, respectively. Extremadura is the region with the least uptake: Only 3.5% of sales are made by people outside of Spain, representing only 0.3% of those closed nationwide.
Which nations buy the most?
There are two types among foreign buyers: those who buy to live because they are moving abroad, and those who use a vacation home. According to the ‘Survey on Population and Housing Basic Characteristics (ECEPOV)’ published by the National Institute of Statistics in February 2023, 56.4% of households with foreign origins, all members of which are residing in Spain, say it is rent. 43.6% are property owners.
According to the ‘Housing and Land Observatory’ no. 44′ prepared by the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urbanization (MITMA) The top buyers from Spain are the UK, Germany and Francerepresents 10.9%, 9.2% and 6.4% of transactions closed by foreigners, respectively. The next nationalities are Romania (5.1%), Belgium (4.9%), Italy (4.9%) and Morocco (4.8%).