Notaries register 13.4 per cent rise in property sales to foreign buyers

The number of property sales to foreign resident and non-resident buyers increased by 13.4% from January to June of this year, according to recent data from the General Council of Notaries.

Foreign buyers purchased a total of 50,087 properties across the country in the first six months of 2017, accounting for 19.4% of the total number of transactions. Of those, 46.6% were non-resident foreigners, an increase of 5.1% year-on-year and the remaining 53.4% of transactions were undertaken by foreigners who are already residents in Spain, showing a 21.8% rise in activity to the year before and the highest proportion of transactions by foreign residents since 2011.

British buyers still account for the highest number of purchases made by nationality despite the visible effects of Brexit with 13.9%, followed by the French (8.8%), German 8.2%, Italian (7.7%) and Romanian (6.9%). Moroccan, Chinese and Russian buyers are also continuing to gain a significant presence in the Spanish property market accounting for 10.6%, 5.7% and 3.0% by nationality respectively.

The average price per square metre of properties involved in these transactions also increased by 2.9% year-on-year, and the sharp rise in demand is likely to continue to drive house prices upwards across the country.

National house price indices published in November are among the most positive in over a decade, as the years of negative price adjustments seem to be behind us. Spanish house prices are visibly growing again after eight years of declines, with noticeable differences from region to region. House prices rose by 4.3% across Spain on average, are up 6.4% in big cities and 0.9% on the Mediterranean coast, largely because these areas suffered among the worst price declines after the property bubble burst.

There are a number of opportunities to invest in sought-after properties on the Costa del Sol with a variety of budgets including new developments, beachfront apartments and luxury villas and penthouses.