According to notarial statistics looking at where foreigners made purchasers, the prices paid by foreign buyers for property in Spain have risen in year-on-year terms across the board. Extremadura is at the top of the list, with a rise of 34.3%; followed by Asturias (27.5%), Murcia (19%), Madrid (16.6%), Aragon (16.1%), Valencia (13.6%), the Canary Islands (13.1%), Cantabria (11%) and Catalonia (10.4%).
Prices grew by between 5% and 10% in Andalusia (9.7%), Galicia (9.5%), the Balearic Islands (8.2%) and Castile-La Mancha (7.3%), while the increase in La Rioja, the Basque Country, Navarre and Castile and Leon was less than 5%.
If we look at the data by nationality, we discover that foreigners who paid the highest amounts per m2 in the first half of the year were those from Denmark (2,870 euros/m2), the USA (2,837 euros/m2), Norway (2,701 euros/m2), Sweden (2,701 euros/m2), Germany (2,657 euros/m2) and Switzerland (2,567 euros/m2). Buyers from the Netherlands, France, Belgium, Italy and Ireland also exceeded the average price paid by all foreigners (2,062 euros/m2). In contrast, Moroccans (694 €/m2), Romanians (1,097 euros/m2) and Ecuadorians (1,198 euros/m2) paid the lowest average prices.
"The prices that grew the most were those paid by Americans (25.6%), followed by Ukrainians (25.4%) and Norwegians (21.5%). On the other hand, the countries with a decrease in prices paid were Russia (-8.9%), Sweden (-2.5%), Germany (-0.7%) and Argentina (-0.1%)," explain the report.
Growth in transactions, with the British leading the way
Foreigners bought 72,987 homes in Spain in the first half of the year, which represented 20.3% of the total number of transactions registered in the country as a whole. Their weight not only exceeds the average between 2012 and 2019 (18.7%), but, as already advanced by the Property Registrars, it is an all-time record, equalling the result of the second half of 2015.
In the last year, transactions led by foreigners have registered an increase of 52.7%, and 41.9% compared to the second half of 2021.
By nationality, the group of foreigners who purchased the most homes was British, with 10.7% of total transactions (7,793), followed by Germans (10.2%) and French (7.7%). The group of nationalities that includes the rest of foreigners from outside the EU accounted for 10.9%, the lowest percentage in three years.
For the third consecutive six-month period, notaries emphasise, "sales made by foreigners of all nationalities increased, but those made by the Dutch (121.5%), Norwegians (119.5%) and Irish (106.7%) did so with greater intensity".
Source: Idealista
