Rise in Spanish property transactions with strong foreign demand in Q1

The Spanish property market has seen positive results across the board during the first quarter of 2017, according to statistics released in the latest report by the Spanish Land Registrars Association.

Aided by strong local and international demand and greater access to funding from Spanish lending institutions, the property market has seen an annual price rise of 7.74% (the highest since 2007) and a rise in transactions, with a total of 113.738 property purchases (the highest since the first quarter of 2011).

Increases in property purchases were recorded in every autonomous region in Spain, with the highest figures in Andalucia (21.313), Cataluña (19.666), Madrid (16.690) and Valencia (16.390).

Over the past 12 months, 418.054 properties Spain were sold in Spain, the highest annual figure since 2011. Of this figure, 73.692 were new build properties (a rising figure over the past year), most of which were in Madrid (3.623), Malaga (1.847), Barcelona (1.536) and Alicante (1.261). The remaining 344.362 properties sold were resale properties.

According to the report, foreign demand for property in Spain rose by 15.6% in the first quarter of this year, with a total number of 14,870 transactions involving foreign buyers. Demand from British buyers has been visibly effected by Brexit with a 23% decline, though the market remains resilient and the British were still the biggest group of buyers by a wide margin, with 2,150 home purchases and 15% share of the foreign market. The British were followed by the French with 1,433 purchases and 10% of the market share and Germans with 1,137 purchases and 8% market share, followed closely by Belgian, Swedish, Italian, Chinese and Russian buyers.

All countries that account for less than 100 buyers a year currently account for 41% of the market share, a figure that is also noticeably rising since the start of 2014. Demand for property in Spain is increasingly diversified and fragmented according to the report.

The overall market has now expanded every quarter for the last four years, up by 14.4% this quarter with local demand up by 14.2%. The report signals the stability of the Spanish property market and a sweeping optimism that it will continue on a positive trajectory of growth.

Contact Domus Venari today to speak with one of our property experts in your language.

For the full report in Spanish click here.