International buyers are involved in 62 percent of purchases of luxury properties in Spain, according to a recent report by real estate agency Lucas Fox.
According to the real estate company, foreigners are buying up an increasing number of high-end homes in Spain.
“We have more and more foreign residents. We are also seeing many digital nomads, entrepreneurs and Latin Americans who come to do business, or English and Americans,” explains Paloma Pérez Bravo, CEO of Lucas Fox Residential.
It’s not just foreigners buying up holiday homes or investment properties either, as almost four in 10 of these luxury properties are bought as primary residences.
“Spain has gone from being the land of sunshine to being the land of investment. People want more primary residences than second homes because they are moving to Spain,” Pérez Bravo says.
The real estate company believes that one of the driving forces behind the number of foreigners now buying in Spain are the immigration policies of the Donald Trump administration in the US.
“There’s a pull effect on Spain from businesspeople and investors who used to invest in the US and are now facing increasing difficulties. The same is happening with students,” they add.
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The agency believe that Spain has established itself as the most dynamic luxury market in Europe and that real estate investment in Spain could increase by up to 20 percent by 2026, with luxury properties as one of the main markets.
Despite this trend, the number of properties bought in Spain that exceed €2.5 million only represent around 1.6 of the total operations carried out.
The luxury home market also tends to be concentrated in certain areas of the country.
The areas of Spain with the highest concentration of these types of properties are Málaga province, Mallorca, Madrid, and Barcelona. Alicante, Ibiza, Girona, Cádiz, Tenerife, and Menorca follow, making up the top 10 spots
It comes as no surprise that Málaga leads the way with 28.5 percent of the luxury properties in Spain, followed by Mallorca with 25.3 percent, Madrid with 11 percent and then Barcelona with 7.5 percent.
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READ ALSO: Are non-EU property buyers really to blame for Spain’s housing crisis?
Many in Spain are partly blaming foreign buyers for the current housing crisis here. Although the luxury market may not be part of the issue, it could be affected by future legislation.
Earlier this year, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said that he would impose a 100 percent tax on non-resident, non-EU home buyers in Spain, in a bid to try and help solve the housing crisis. This would essentially make properties for foreign investors, who don’t live live in Spain, twice as expensive.
Other political parties have also proposed similar plans such as far-right party Vox who want to increase property tax for foreigners in order to give aid and benefits to locals.
READ ALSO: 9 in 10 luxury flats in Spain are bought by foreigners
