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Foreign buyers return to Spanish property market

Demand from overseas buyers for property in Spain reached its highest level at the end of 2017 for some time with British investors in particular returning to the market.
The latest figures from the Spanish Land Registrar’s Association for the last quarter of 2017 show foreign demand increased to 15,266 purchases, the highest level in a fourth quarter since the boom years.
Overall the increase in demand for homes in Spain was driven by 19.7% increase in Spanish demand and a 20.4% increase in foreign demand compared to the same period last year.
As a result foreign demand was 13.6% of the Spanish housing market at the end of last year, close to all-time highs.
Foreign buyers were led by the British with 2,384 registered purchases in the final quarter of 2017, followed by French buyers with 1,242 and Germans with 1,198. By market share, the British made up 16% of foreign demand, the French 8%, and the Germans 8%.

British buyers back to Spain

In 2013, foreign nationals bought 55,187 properties in Spain, 9.8% more than in 2012 and 21.4% of the total number of properties sold on the open market, according to figures made public by the National Council of Spanish Notaries.
A breakdown by nationality shows 14.9% of the transactions corresponded to British citizens (11.7% more than in 2012, but still far from the 34.3% maximum in 2007, at the height of the property market boom. Other nationalities with a high percentage of purchases included the French (10.9%), Russians (8.2%), Germans (7.8%) and Belgians (6.9%). The number of transactions increased in coastal regions, especially in Valencia (16.9%) and the Canary Islands (15.7%).