Despite efforts by the Spanish government to dissuade some foreigners from purchasing property in Spain with restrictive legislation, overseas buyers from certain countries are continuing to buy homes here at record rates and prices.
Whether it be the scrapping of the golden visa scheme, a possible supertax on non-resident non-EU property buyers or even completely preventing them from buying Spanish homes, in recent times the Spanish government has tried to find ways to discourage or outright stop foreigners buying so many properties in Spain.
This is because, the reasoning goes, growing demand is outpacing supply, which in turns increases prices and locks many Spaniards out of the property market.
Now, whether or not measures such as those will actually help is another debate, but with rapidly rising rental costs and a shortage of properties overall in Spain, the government has attempted various ways of alleviating the housing crisis and foreigners have faced the brunt of this.
READ ALSO: Spain’s Canaries ask EU to help them limit foreigners buying homes
Despite that, as well as a more general anti-tourism bordering on anti-foreigner sentiment in Spain, non-Spaniards bought homes at increasing rates in the second half of 2024 and paid record prices for them.
This is according to Spain’s latest report from the General Council of Notaries.
In that period, foreigners bought 69,690 properties, which translates into a 10.3 percent year-on-year increase and is the third highest half-yearly figure on record.
With regard to the market as a whole, this represented 19.5 percent of total sales between July and December, remaining below the average recorded in 2023 when it exceeded 21 percent.
Resident foreigners accounted for the majority of purchases (58.1 percent of the total, for 40,489 units) with year-on-year growth of 11.8 percent, while non-residents accounted for the remaining 41.9 percent (29,201 transactions).
READ ALSO: New calls in Spain for limits on foreign residents buying property
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Which foreigners are buying the most properties in Spain?
Looking at the figures, the foreign nationals who bought the most homes in the second half of last year were UK citizens, who remain at the top of the table as has been the case for years, with 6,048 Spanish property purchases between June and December 2024.
Brexit, which caused them to become non-EU nationals, has not put them off the prospect of a home in the sun, even if this means only spending 90 out of 180 days in their Spanish homes, in the case of non-residents.
We will have to wait and see if the Spanish government’s proposed supertax or potential ban on non-resident non-EU nationals influences British appetite for Spanish real estate in the first half of 2025.
Britons were followed by Moroccans (5,060 property purchases), Germans (4,650); Romanians (4,270); Italians (4,066); Dutch buyers (3,933); the French (3,910), Belgians (3,164); Poles (2,842) and the Chinese (2,737).
Compared to the previous year, purchases by foreigners increased especially among Poles (+43.7 percent), the Chinese (+26.5 percent) and Ukrainians (+26.3 percent).
US nationals bought 1,432 properties in the second half of 2024 while Irish buyers made up 1,121, according to the official notary stats.
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How much are foreigners willing to pay for Spanish homes?
Foreigners are paying record rates for property in Spain. On average, foreign buyers paid €2,362/m2 for their homes in the second half of the year, 8.6 percent more than in the same period of 2023. This is the highest figure on record, and has been driven by the growing amounts paid by non-residents, which has for the first time exceeded €3,000/m2.
Specifically, the average price among non-resident foreigners reached €3,063, compared to the €1,795/m2 paid by residents and the €1,713/m2 paid by Spanish buyers, neither of which represent record highs.
The nationalities paying the most were Americans (€3,390/m2), Swedes (€3,295/m2) and Germans (€3,224/m2). On the other hand, the lowest prices by nationality were among Romanians (€1,205/m2) and Moroccans (€753/m2).
In the second half of 2024, all regions of Spain registered an increase in the purchase and sale of homes by foreigners with the sole exception of the Canary Islands, where transactions fell by 3.9 percent year-on-year.
The biggest increases were in Cantabria (33.5 percent), Castile and León (28.7 percent), Asturias (28.6 percent), Extremadura (26.9 percent), Castile-La Mancha (23 percent), Galicia (22.5 percent) Madrid (21.9 percent).
