Real estate values for the whole of Spain have increased by a little under 1 per cent, as well as a 13 per cent rise in the number of foreign buyers, it has recently been announced by the Association of Registrars.
House prices in Spain are rising for the first time in over six years, whilst simultaneously the ratio of purchases by foreign property investors has reached record levels, new figures have revealed.
What This Means
The country’s property market witnessed a 0.97 per cent year on year rise in prices for the second quarter of 2014. Prices were also up 1.53 per cent from the previous quarter, according to the “El Índice de Precio de la Vivienda de Ventas Repetidas (IPVVR) price index in the Estadística Registral Inmobiliaria,” which comes from the Association of Registrars.
An all time record high of over 13 per cent of home purchases made in Spain were by foreigners, with UK buyers leading the way with 15.77 per cent of all foreign purchases, followed by the French who were slightly adrift with 10.11 per cent, Russians (8.08 per cent), Germans (7.53 per cent), Belgians (7.26 per cent) and Swedish (5.93 per cent).
House sales however, fell by a sizeable 5.49 per cent over the previous quarter to 78,464, a;though this will still significantly higher than the record low of quarter 4 2013 at 72,560 sales. This has been attributed to the 18.89 per cent quarterly fall in the quantity of new homes bought, which added up to 30,605 purchases.
When it comes to regional figures, Andalusia had the largest number of recorded purchases at 15,583, followed by Catalonia with 11,908 and Madrid with 10,522.
Alternate data that comes from property website fotocasa.es shows us that overseas property purchases on the Spanish ‘costas’ in 2013 were led by Russian buyers who, on average, spent close to double the average property spend.
OPP Connect have reported that Beatriz Toribio, a lead researcher at fotocasa.es said, “The home purchases by foreigners has become one of the main drivers of the Spanish property market.
Proffesional Opinion
“They are attracted by our good living conditions and the great opportunities offered by the sector, as housing has devalued by 41 per cent from the highs reached in 2008. this percentage rises to 53 per cent in many areas of the Spanish coast, the main attraction of foreigners who want to buy homes in our country.
“British and French nationalities are still leading the rankings of purchases by foreigners, but those who spend more money on the coast are Russian citizens, followed closely by the Germans.
“The majority purchases are made in Alicante, Malaga, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Islas and Girona. Russian and British buyers prefer to choose to buy properties on the beautiful Alicante coastline, however, their housing preferences are both quite fundamentally different.”
Bradley Shore is an experienced property and investment author, he specializes in overseas property as you can see by his recent work for AltaVista.