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Last Updated on 17/07/2023 by STEPHANE
Automatic translation from Google translate:
The top 10 Spanish cities where foreigners love to buy properties!
Let’s analyse the foreigners real estate activity in Spain.
Where do they buy properties? In which cities, regions and Costas?
Up to end December 2018, according to the Centro de Informacion Estadistica del Notariado, there were 562,189 residential properties sold during the last year in Spain vs 513,814 one year before: i.e. a 9% growth!
103.608 of the properties sold during the last year in Spain were bought by foreigners, that’s about 18.5% of every transaction vs respectively 100,095 the year before. A 4% growth, not bad! Remember, as a foreigner, you need to have a NIE number if you want to buy a property in Spain. Read our article on that subject if needed: Your ultimate guide to your Spanish NIE number.
The real estate transactions in Spain are at the highest level since 2008 in fact!
Spaniards and Foreigners are very active, both are buying the most since 2008, check this chart:
As a reminder, here is the price evolution of the square meter in Spain during the last 20 years.
As you can see on this chart:
We wanted to dig deeper and have a more precise view, so we checked it from the “Costas” view, from the “Region” view and from the “City” view.
Don’t miss our foreigners property buyers guides written for any top 10 country active in Spain.
I. Foreigners real estate activity for all the Spanish Costas (& Islands) – last year up to December 2018
The top 5 Costas & Islands for purchases by foreigners are:
- The Costa Blanca #21.059 transactions (23% of transactions by foreigners)
- The Costa del Sol #11.017 transactions (18% of transactions by foreigners)
- The Canary Islands #7.020 transactions (8% of transactions by foreigners)
- The Costa Barcelona #9.254 transactions (11% of transactions by foreigners)
- The Balearic Islands #5.933 transactions (6% of transactions by foreigners)
=> It is very interesting to note that only 11% per cent of the purchases made by foreigners are inland! (“Other cities without sea” on our chart)
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The top 5 Costas & Islands in terms of transactions growth are:
- The Costa de la Morte 46%
- The Costa del Azahar with 37%
- The Costa Almeria with 28%
- The Costa Valencia with 28%
Two regions suffer negative growth: the Costa Barcelona (-28%) and the Costa Brava (-9%).
If you want to read more on the Spanish Costas, have a look at our articles we wrote on all the Spanish costas
II. Foreigners real estate activity for all the Spanish regions – last year up to June 2019
As you can see on this chart:
The top 5 Spanish Regions for purchases by foreigners are:
- The Comunitat Valenciana with #29,490 transactions (28.9% of transactions by foreigners)
- Andalusia with #18,363 transactions (18% of transactions by foreigners)
- Catalonia #15,775 transactions (15.5% of transactions by foreigners)
- Madrid #8,9958 transactions (8.8% of transactions by foreigners)
- The Canary Islands #8,180 transactions (8% of transactions by foreigners)
You surely know that Madrid is the third biggest city in Europe and provides good returns
Remember the infographic we did on the subject last year, it remains nearly the same in 2019!
The top 5 Spanish Regions in terms of transactions growth are:
- Asturias with 35%
- Castilla y Leon with 29%
- Cantabria and Cstilla-La Mancha with 21%
- Navarre with 16%
As you probably saw, all those regions have with a very low transaction volume. Should it mean that: as prices are rising in general, people are more active in peripheral areas? Our view is that the low volume makes it not significant.
As a rule on those three diagrams analyzing the foreigner’s activity, you will see that the lower the number of transactions, the higher the growth in transactions volume and vice versa.
III. Foreigners real estate activity for all the Spanish cities – last year up to June 2018
As you can see on this chart:
The top 5 Spanish Cities for purchases by foreigners are:
- Alicante with #21.059 transactions (23% of transactions by foreigners)
- Malaga with #11.017 transactions (12% of transactions by foreigners)
- Madrid #7.533 transactions (8% of transactions by foreigners)
- Barcelona #7.020 transactions (8% of transactions by foreigners)
- The Balears #5.933 transactions (6% of transactions by foreigners)
The region of Madrid represents 8% of the transactions made by foreigners, yes for once, no beaches! You surely know that Madrid is the third biggest city in Europe.
Don’t forget to hedge your currency smartly if you are buying from outside the European zone.
Before picking a city for your holiday home, have a look at the monthly weather statistics on the top 20 Spanish Cities here
The top 7 Spanish Cities in terms of transactions growth have a growth rate higher than 40%!!!
Melilla, Cuenca, Huelva, Coruña (A), Cáceres, Albacete, León, Guadalajara (most are not on the chart as we kept only the top 20 cities in terms of transactions)
All on very low transaction volume. Once again, should it mean that: as prices are rising in general, people are more active in peripheric areas? We don’t think so, but yes foreigners are going further for bargains!
Check our last article on the same subject: Who are the foreigners buying real estate in Spain? Where do they buy? What price do they pay?
If you want to search further the real estate market in any Spanish city, read our summary paper here: Everything you ever wanted to know about the top 20 Spanish Cities real estate markets
Finally, remember our infographic on which nationalities are actively purchasing properties in Spain.
If you are searching for your ideal property in Spain, don’t miss our dedicated guide: Where are the best places to buy a property in Spain?
Looking for a real estate expert in Spain? Ask us directly!
