Which nationalities are buying properties in Spain? The Statistical Information Center of Notaries in Spain has just released its last report of Foreigners activity on the property market.
What was the activity on the Spanish real estate market up to June 2019?
- 554,681 property transactions for the last 12 months: +3% yearly growth
- property activity by Spaniards increased by 3% year-on-year to 452,712
- 42% of the transactions were carried out by non-resident foreigners and 58% by foreigners living in Spain!
Spaniards and Foreigners are very active: both are buying the most since 2008:
Quarterly statistics of the “Ministerio de Fomento”.
Which are the most active nationalities within EU?
For the last 12 months to end June 2019, the most active nationalities were:
- the British (14.1%),
- the French (8%),
- the Moroccans (7.7%)
- the Germans (7.4%),
- the Romanians (7.3%)
- the Italians (6.3%),
- the Belgians (5.4%).
- and the Swedish (3.8%)
representing 59% of all the real estate transactions purchased by foreigners in Spain for the last 12 months to June 2019.
Most active nationalities outside EU
The proportion of purchases was also high by foreigners outside the EU:
such as Morocco (7.7%), China (4.6%) or Russia (3.1%).
Here you go, a quick check of all the nationalities:
Which nationalities are buying more properties during the last 12 months to June 2019?
- Morocco 24.1%
- Argentina 19.7%
- Portugal 13.8%
- Ecuador 11.4%
- USA 7.6%
- Netherlands 7%
Which nationalities are less active during the last 12 months to June 2019?
- Sweden -28.6%
- Denmark -20.4%
- Switzerland -10.7%
- Norway -10.5%
- Belgium -6.7%
- Italy -5.7%
- Ukraine -3.5%
- United Kingdom -3.3%
- China -2.8%
- France -2.2%
- Russia -1.8%
Here is the evolution of the purchases done by each nationality since 2008
This was the situation end 2016: we keep the same top 3 nations.
Foreigners living in Spain are more active
- Foreigners living in Spain recorded 58,648 operations, 4% more than in 2017.
- Non-resident foreigners bought 43,321 properties, a decrease of 7% year-on-year.
This is quite a strong vote of confidence by foreigners living in Spain! Of course, they work there, and it is easier for them to buy than non-resident foreigners. But we are here to help you! One other reason of this could be the strong economic activity in Spain as the European Commission predicted for the Spanish GDP growth in 2019 and 2020.
Check our chart analyzing who is more active on the Spanish property market: Foreigners or Spaniards with the evolution since 2007 (year before the crisis):
2. Where are foreigners buying properties in Spain?
What are the main regions for foreigners – representing 87% of transactions?
Most active cities – Biggest activity of foreigners vs Spaniards?
According to the “Colegio de Registradores de la Propiedad”, the cities where foreigners are the most active (vs Spaniards) in the third quarter of 2018 are:
- Alicante
- Tenerife
- The Balearic Islands
- Malaga
- Girona
- Murcia
- Las Palmas
- Almeria
- Castellon
- Tarragona
- Soria
Which Spanish regions are the most popular for which nationalities?
We did the ranking for the 12 most active countries in Spain.
Check the evolution of the foreigners’ activity per region since 2007 (year before the crisis):
3. What price do foreigners pay to buy a property in Spain?
Check the evolution of the price paid per region since 2007 by foreigners (year before the crisis):
The average price per square meter of operations carried out by foreigners increased by 3% year-on-year. The acceleration of prices was recorded both among non-residents (+3%) and residents (+2%), although the former paid higher prices than the second ones, € 2,099 / m² against € 1,444 / m², respectively.
This price discrepancy between foreigners living in Spain and not living in Spain could come from many factors:
- Non-resident are buying a second home at more expensive locations
- Non-resident who are buying have a higher purchasing power
- Resident foreigners could decide to reside due to the low cost of real estate in Spain
In terms of levels, the average price per square meter paid by foreigners continued to register strong differences between each region. During the first half of the year, it was below the national average of € 1,728 in 12 of the 17 Regions.:
Regions under € 800:
Extremadura, Castilla-La Mancha, La Rioja, Castilla y León or Aragón.
Regions between € 800 and the national average paid by foreigners € 1,728
Galicia, Murcia, Asturias, Navarra, Cantabria, Andalusia and the Valencian Community
Regions above the national average € 1,728
- Canary Islands (€ 1,858),
- Basque Country (€ 1,927),
- Catalonia (€ 2,042)
- Madrid (€ 2,354),
- and Baleares (€ 3,053).
Interesting to note, all those regions are in the areas of interest from foreigners apart from the Basque Country.
Let’s have a closer look at current property prices (value written in Blue on the chart) and at the price evolution (left scale) for each Spanish region since one year. The regions are Alphabetically sorted.
As you can see on the chart we just showed: prices are increasing everywhere apart from 3 regions.
Published by howtobuyinspain.com