7 November 2016

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MADRID - After a few difficult years in the housing sector in Spain, it seems that things are going better. That is in any case noticeable when selling property to foreigners. Where 2015 ended with an increase in house sales of 13% to almost 48,000 houses bought by foreigners, the figures for the second quarter are positive this year. The largest group of international buyers are still the British, but more houses were also bought by the Dutch and Belgians. It seems that many foreigners now quickly want to buy a property in Spain, before prices start to rise again. In 2015, almost 48,000 homes as a holiday home, permanent home or investment project were bought by foreigners, 13% more than the year before and accounted for 13.36% of total sales, with the Spanish buying 86.64% of homes. With the latest figures from the Colegio de Registradores de Propiedades in Spain it seems that this year will also be a good year for the home sales among the foreigners.

Second trimester

In the second quarter of this year, slightly more than 14,000 homes were sold to foreigners, which is more than the first quarter of 2016 when 12,800 houses were bought by international buyers. 13.38% of all homes sold went to foreigners while that amounted to 12.93% in the first quarter. In total, 107,838 homes were sold during the second quarter of this year, of which just over 14,000 went to foreigners.

Nationalities

The majority of the homes were bought by British (19.73%) followed by Germans (7.38%) and French (7.05%). After the Swedes (6.95%) and the Italians (5.99%) the Belgians are sixth on the list (5.63%) followed by the Romanians, Chinese, Moroccans, Russians and Norwegians and only then the Dutch on place 12 on the list (2.29%).

Dutch and Belgians

During the first half of 2016, the Dutch bought 642 homes, but it is expected that this will increase to 1,300 or more at the end of the year, which would be 26% more than last year. At the Belgians, a second home in Spain has become increasingly popular in recent years and last year 2,907 houses were bought by Belgians. It is thought that this number will be higher at the end of 2016 than last year. The low interest rates, recovery of the housing market and the relatively lower property prices in Spain are important explanations for the increases among Dutch and Belgian buyers.

Regions

Most, or say all, houses bought by the British, French, Germans, Swedes, Belgians and Dutch are located in the coastal municipalities or on the islands. Especially Catalonia, Comunidad Valenciana, Murcia and Andalusia on the mainland are very popular and also the Canary and Balearic Islands.

The British prefer to choose a home in the regions of Valencia, Murcia and Andalusia, while the French opt for Catalonia and the Germans for the Balearic Islands. Catalonia is also popular with the Chinese and Russians while the Valencian region is popular with the Swedes, Germans and also the Dutch, Murcia with the Belgians and Moroccans, the Balearics with the British and Sweden and Andalusia with the Swedes, Belgians and Dutch .

In principle, the Dutch and Belgians choose not so much for a particular region of Spain and can be found everywhere, although there seems to be a preference for the regions of Valencia and Andalusia, especially on the coast or not so far away. Only rarely are the Dutch and Belgians buying homes in the inland regions of Spain such as Castilla la Mancha, Castilla y León, Aragon or Madrid.

Source: Spain today

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