Spain ‘bursting’ with expats

Spain continues to be massively popular with overseas investors…

According to the national institute of statistics'' (INE) latest census, there were 44.7 million people living in Spain in 2007 this year - 4.1 million of whom were foreign.

This is an increased of 415,000 people, or 11.1 per cent, on the number recorded in 2006.

People from overseas now account for 9.3 per cent of the overall population, Spanish newspaper Sur reports.

The popularity of buying real estate in Spain has been demonstrated in population figures since the turn of the century, with 924,000 foreigners living in the country in 2000, rising to 1.4 million in 2001 and hitting three million by 2004.

Property in Barcelona appears to be one of the biggest draws at the moment, as Catalonia currently hosts 22 per cent of Spain’s foreign population, followed by Madrid (19 per cent), Valencia (16 per cent) and Andalucia (12 per cent).