Brit demand booms for spanish property

Photo: Barbara Walsh

British demand is booming for Spanish property once more, as the country's market continues its recovery.

Spain is now the sixth largest market for investment in the world, according to the latest CBRE report, up from 11th in 2014, placing the country ahead of markets such as France, Italy and Canada.

Indeed, the country's fundamentals are all showing signs of improvement at presence, with figures from the General Council of Notaries revealing a rise in house prices (1.7 per cent), sales (8.7 per cent) and even mortgage lending (17.4 per cent).

Local demand has begun to rise after a long period of decline, confirm statistics from the Property Register: domestic sales rose 16 per cent in Q3 2015 year-on-year. But they pale in comparison to the booming interest from the Brits.

Buyers from the UK snaped up 2,895 Spanish homes in the third quarter of 2015, according to the Regsiter, up 31 per cent on the second quarter and more than twice as many as buyers from france. Year-on-year, demand from Brits blossomed 53 per cent, ahead of even Italy's 29 per cent annual growth.

The growth in Brtish interest arrives in a year when the UK economy has steadily strengthened, while the euro has been weak against the pound, boosting spending power for already affordable homes.

The rise in British demand also occurs as demand from Russians declines significantly, with sales down 46 per cent, thanks to the country's struggling economy, wider political conflicts and plummeting ruble.

Nonetheless, Spanish real estate remains highly attractive to foreign buyers, with overseas sales rising even with Russian interest weakening. According to the Register, more than one in seven property sales (13.52 per cent) ar to foreigners. Indeed, foreign sales climbed 20 per cent in Q3 2015 year-on-year.

"The active presence of foreign buyers in the Spanish housing market has provided a big contribution at a times of very low overall demand, and the fact that this demand is consolidating, and even growing, in a period of recovery like the present, offers great encouragement for the future," comments the report.