Panic in Spain as new stat shows anti-tourism protests have failed
Tourist hotspots in Spain are still very popular with British expats looking for a holiday home in the sun.
Despite anti-tourism protests throughout Spain over the last year and a tough post-Brexit environment for prospective expats, properties in the southern Mediterranean country are still very popular with British buyers.
In the face of these factors, foreign buyers of Spanish properties fell by 0.1 percent in the second quarter of 2024 compared to the same time in 2023, according to property market data from Spain's Association of Registrars.
In total, non-Spanish buyers accounted for 14.8 percent of all property purchasers, down from 14.9 percent in 2023.
Brits accounted for 8.4 percent of foreign sales - higher than any other group - with Germans in second at seven percent, and Moroccans at 6.1 percent.
That said, the number of Brits buying property in Spain is down from where it was a decade ago.
In 2014, Brits represented 15.77 percent of property purchasers, meaning it has approximately halved in a decade.
Ferran Font, spokesperson for housing website Pisos.com, said in the Spanish press that "comparing the data for 2024 with that of 2014, we see that the trend that remains is of British residents being the main interested parties."
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However, he noted that Spain has seen a “diversification of buyers” with more Moroccans and Romanians buying up properties in this decade than in previous decades.
The prevalence of foreign property owners varies by region. Areas popular with tourists are unsurprisingly where the majority of expats buy homes.
For example, the Balearic Islands see a third of all properties bought by non-Spaniards (33.4 percent).
While the Canary Islands has 31.1 percent of its homes bought by foreigners. Valencia's figure 28.8 percent non-Spanish, while Murcia's is 23.6 percent, Catalonia's 16.1 percent and Andalusia's 13.7 percent.
"Spain continues to be a very attractive country for investors, as these figures show," Font added.
"Prices, even with their strong upward trend, continue to define a much more competitive residential offer than in other markets, which allows foreign buyers to act as a necessary driver."
