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Last Updated on 18/07/2023 by STEPHANE
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After your reading, don’t forget to read our most updated article of December 2017 on the same topic: The top 10 Spanish cities where foreigners love to buy properties!
Check our full Quarterly Report updated as of December 2017 on the foreign Real Estate activity in Spain.
Full analysis for Spain, for the Costas & Islands and for the different cities
Spain Analysis
During the last year up to September 2016, Foreigners bought 17,4% of all properties sold in Spain according to the “Ministerio de Fomento”.
This is half a percent more than one year ago. Foreigners bought 77 451 properties vs 67436 last year: i.e. a 14,9% Increase. At the same time, the number of transactions in Spain increased from 398 631 to 443 997 last year: i.e. an 11,4% increase.
Real estate analysis for the Costas & Islands: Foreigners buy Sun and beaches!
In our infographic studying second home buying in Europe, one of the top attributes for the ideal property is being near to the sea!
It’s the third attribute after being close to an airport and having a “Scenic Location“. Other attributes are getting a good value, have a good resale potential, have the possibility for renting, have the ideal number of bedrooms, have a minimum size of 100 square meters and of course a hot climate. Check our full infographic below.
So you won’t be surprised by the following statistic: 85% of properties bought are in regions close to the sea: either on a “Costa” or on the Balearic or Canary Islands! If you subtract the sales for Madrid, which enjoy its own international reputation, you get the even more impressive number of 92%!
For sure, Foreigners come for the sunny beaches of Spain. Please check our Infographic for the many reasons why people want to buy a house in Spain.
The “Costa Blanca” is the first “Costa” with 23,4% of transactions, the “Costa del Sol” is the second with 14,2% of transactions and the “Costa Dorada” is the last one with 10,7% of the transactions. All those three regions continue to benefit from strong interests of foreigners. Interesting to note, the “Costa Calida” has a Year on Year growth of twice the average of growth of properties bought by Spain with 30%!
Remember, if you want to buy a property in Spain, you need a NIE, check our paper on that: Your ultimate guide to your Spanish NIE number.
Table 1 Activity by Costas & Islands analysis: Last year up to September 2016.
Real estate analysis for the Spanish Autonomous Regions
No surprise to see that the “Comunitat Valenciana” is the biggest Autonomous Region in term of transactions with close to 30% of the transactions. Andalucia and Catalonia are second and third with 20% and 15%. Check our infographic on this:
Table 2 Autonomous Regions analysis: Last year up to September 2016.
Real Estate analysis for the Spanish Cities
The first city region to be blowing is Alicante with 23% of the transactions done last year! That means that more than 18 thousand properties were bought there.
Malaga is the Second one with 14% of the properties sold and Barcelona is third with 8%. The Growth is impressive and above 10% for all the top 8 Cities. The two strong growth areas in the top 10, in terms of transactions, are Santa Cruz de Tenerife with a 26% growth. The region of Murcia grew by 30%. In the less traded markets, the region of Cantabria, Huesca and Jaen all noticed growth higher than 45% versus the same period of last year.
Table 3 Cities analysis: Last year up to September 2016.
Read our update of December 2017 on the same topic: The top 10 Spanish cities where foreigners love to buy properties!
Check our full Quarterly Report on the foreign Real Estate activity in Spain.
Source: Ministerio de Fomento. Data updated up to September 2016.
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