Europeans buy more than 15% of residential properties in Spain, Spanish real estate is in demand

Spain remains one of the most popular countries for the purchase of real estate by foreigners. Last year, 15.1% of all buy-to-let transactions, or about 87,400 transactions, were carried out by foreigners, according to the College of Property Registrars. This is the best figure ever, exceeded only by the results of 2022, when 88,858 transactions were made.

The most admirers of Spanish real estate are the British

The British ranked first with a 9.8% share of all transactions, followed by the Germans with 7.3%, the French with 6.1%, the Belgians with 5.6% and the Moroccans with 5.5%.

Among the reasons to buy real estate in Spain

• Lower price compared to other European capitals
• The effort a foreigner has to make to invest in real estate in Spain is much less

According to data from the General Council of Notaries for the first half of 2023, non-resident foreigners purchased more expensive properties, paying an average of €2,598 per square meter, while domestic buyers paid €1,574.

Together with the low price, the high yield of real estate in Spain, which is 6.4% at the end of 2023, makes our country a paradise for foreign investors.

In addition, the geographical location of Spain is another advantage for these investors, together with thousands of kilometers of beaches, more than 300 days of sunshine a year, a high quality of life and a well-developed transportation network.

These factors made the Valencian Community last year one of the most popular places for foreign buyers to purchase real estate with 28,000 transactions, representing 29% of the total number of transactions. This was followed by Andalucía with 17,500 transactions and Catalonia with 15,000.

A feature of these buyers is that they rarely take out a mortgage to finance the transaction. Only 34% of them apply for a mortgage, compared to 78% of Spanish buyers, according to CaixaBank Research. This is because they have equity or take out a mortgage in their home country.

Moreover, the real estate they purchase is more expensive than that bought by Spaniards. This leads to a faster increase in housing prices in the areas where they invest, or a slow decline in prices compared to other regions.

Analysts at CaixaBank believe that foreign interest in Spanish real estate will continue in the coming years: "The volume of purchases will keep growing due to the high attractiveness of our country for foreign buyers."