Numbers from the Department of Housing support the idea that the Spanish property market has found a floor (see chart above), in part due to the growing number of foreigners buying holiday-homes in Spain.
There were 75,642 homes sales in Q3, down 1.2pc compared to the same period last year, according to the latest stats from the Department of Housing, part of the Ministry of Public Works (Fomento).
The small annualised fall was a significant improvement on Q1 and Q2, when the market shrank 6.8pc and 7.1pc respectively.
As the following table makes clear (click to enlarge), most of the areas where sales increased were on the coast (highlighted in green), where foreigners are starting to buy in increasing numbers, lured in by a huge fall in Spanish property prices.
Ole H says:
Are these figures based on already resident foreigners in Spain or non-resident foreigners?
I makes a big different