Russians are buying homes in Spain: purchases are up by 50%

Foreigners still want to buy homes in Spain, but also face an economic environment that is slowing down the real estate market. According to data from the Statistical Information Center of the Notariate, published on Wednesday, in the first half of 2023, home purchases in Spain by foreigners fell by 7.5%. However, this situation does not seem to affect Russian citizens.In their case, transactions increased by more than 50% over the period, and for the first time since 2014, the semi-annual volume exceeded 2,000 sales. "They have more trouble buying because of the anti-clearance regulations," a real estate specialist working in Eastern European markets tells us over the phone.

He adds that this hurdle is being overcome because "many people now come with other nationalities, sometimes Israeli, American and even Ukrainian passports."The figures reflect a revitalization of this type of buyer that hasn't been there for a long time. While in the first half of last year, when the Russian invasion of Ukraine occurred, purchases of residential property in Spain by Russian citizens amounted to 1,423 transactions, from January to June this year they rose to 2,137. This is the highest volume for the half-year since the first half of 2014, when the Spanish real estate market was in a very different state, with historically low prices due to the 2008 crisis, and when golden visas (known as "golden visas", granting citizenship in exchange for large investments in real estate) were in greater demand.But if the economic p