MADRID: The latest quarterly bulletin produced by Spain’s property registrars show that in the first three months of 2015 a total of 90,534 residential properties changed hands, and that 12.22% of purchasers were Foreign buyers accounted for 1 in 8 of all property sales in Spain in the first quarternon-Spaniards.
Among the 11,063 foreign buyers – almost 9% more than in the first quarter of 2014 – there are of course a wide range of nationalities represented, but heading the list are purchasers from the UK. Spain has for many years been a popular destination for Britons seeking a home in the sun, and with the pound-euro exchange rate currently more favourable than it has been for years it’s no surprise to see the UK topping the ranking again. Just under 2,000 purchases are reported to have been made by UK nationals in the first three months of the year, accounting for 17.7% of all foreign buyers and 2.16% of the entire national total.
Next on the list of nationalities buying homes in Spain are those from France (10.19% of all sales to non-Spaniards), Germany (7.7%), Belgium (7.4%) and Sweden (5.5%), and despite the unfavourable ruble-euro rate the Russians are next with 5.03%. Chinese buyers were responsible for 4.17% of all sales to non-Spaniards, or 0.51% of the total of transactions in the whole country.
