Foreign buyers kept the market buoyant in 2015
Spanish property purchases by foreign non-resident buyers increased by 12.9% in 2015, with British buyers taking the lions share, according to new data released by the General Council of Notaries.
Sales of private housing to non-resident foreign buyers amounted to 76,680 transactions in 2015, 20% of the total housing sale transactions.
British buyers accounted for 20.6% of the total, followed by the French with 8.8%, German buyers with 7.5%, with Belgian and Italian buyers accounting for 5.7% and 5.5%, respectively.
The number of British buyers increased by 37.7% year-on-year, while the number of Italian buyers increased by 18.5%. Many other nationalities also registered increased interest in Spanish property including Moroccans (25.8%), Irish (17.8%), Chinese (16.8%) and Swedish (15%).
By Autonomous Region
All autonomous regions recorded increases in the number of private sales to foreigners, while only four recording lower than average increases. La Rioja registered an increase of 59.1%, with Castilla-La Mancha following closely on 57.3%. Sales on the Balearic Islands increased 22.3%, while Madrid saw an increase of 21.7%. In Andalucia the number of transaction showed gains of 13.6%.
The four lower-than-average regions were Catalonia where transactions only increased by 4.9%, Valencia with a 7.2% increase, and Extremadura and the Canary Islands registering increases of 9.8% and 10.3%, respectively.
Price of Housing
The average price per square metre paid by foreign buyers for free housing in 2015 was 1,598 euros, representing an increase of 2.9% over 2014. When splitting these numbers into residents and non-residents, we see that the cost per square metre increased for foreign non-resident buyers by 5.6% to stand at 1,792 Euros. For Foreign resident buyers the price actually fell slightly showing a reduction of 0.1%, to stand at 1,367 Euros.
By region, the increase in the price per square metre varies greatly. In Asturias the price increase was 10.2%, while in the Basque Country the increase was much lower rising only 3.7%, to 2,047 Euros per square metre.
In Madrid the cost per square metre increased 4.4% to stand at 1,867 Euros, while Catalonia saw prices increase to 1,856 Euros per square metre.
