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Notaries: Foreign Buyers Accounted For 19.4% of All Home Sales in Q1

25/06/2014 – Finanzas

As per data provided by the Spanish General Council of Notaries, foreign purchasers bought 15.402 unsubsidized dwellings in Spain in the first quarter of the year. It is by 27.2% more than during the same period a year earlier. 19.4% of the score is represented by foreign buyers.

According to the Notaries, the figures prove that foreigners “boost the growth in the property sales”.

Out of the percentage, real estate transactions conducted by non-residents showed 52.8% (a 18.5% rise). Also, property purchase among the residents soared up by 38.9% on year-on-year basis.

“The big number of operations carried out by resident foreigners might be explained by sales normalization after the cancellation of the tax relief on the property acquisition in 2012″, the Notaries add.

They Buy More & At Higher Prices

Moreover, the notarial statistics confirm that the foreigners not only started to buy more houses in 2014, but also push the prices 1.3% upper to 1.588 Euros per square meter.

“The prices developed into stability after tough corrections observed by now”, the Council comments on the matter.

However, the rebound shall be assigned to non-resident purchases with a 7% jump rather than to resident acquisitions which showed a 6.4% decrease in comparison to Q1 2013.

The British and the French Buy Most

Speaking of nationality of the foreign buyers, property sales were dominated by Britons  (13.8%), the French (10.5%), Russians (8.4%), Germans (7.5%) and Belgians (6.9%), jointly representing almost half of all transactions.

On the other hand, US investors showed the sharpest boost in purchases in Q1 2014, by 88.9% more YOY, followed by the Chinese (+83.1%), the Irish (+78%), the French (+69.8%) and Russsians (+62.6%).

Spanish Coast As the Top Pick

If it comes to geographical concentration of the transactions, the biggest number of properties bought by foreigners was found near to the coast, due to huge demand for holiday accommodation.

Thus, the sales shot up in all regions except for Castille-La Mancha (-24.6%), Castille and León (-20.1%) and Galicia (-20.2%).

The most significant rise was registered in the Basque Country (+43.3%), Catalonia (+41.1%), the Balearic Islands (+36.4%), Asturias (+34.8%), Andalusia (+32.5%) and the Canaries (+23.8%).

In the inland areas, the best numbers on foreign purchase marked books in Madrid (+42.5%), La Rioja (+23.1%), Extremadura (+8.8%) and Aragon (+3.6%).

During the same period of time, prices upsurged most in Cantabria (+33.9%), followed by Asturias (+27.7%), the Balearic Islands (+27.4%), La Rioja (+22.5%), Madrid (+15.3%) and the Valencian Community (+9.8%). The rest of the Spanish regions witnessed fall in property values.

 

Original article: Finanzas (after: Europa Press)

Translation: AURA REE