Foreign Buyers Grabbing New Homes in Barcelona

A new report from estate agency Amat Immobiliaris provides insight into the latest home sales and rental activity in Barcelona.

Despite the fact that “the stock of new properties is not abundant,” more than 70 percent of sales in the first half of 2014 involved new properties, the agency reports. Sales were primarily driven by foreign buyers, who prefer new homes. They accounted for nearly 50 percent of Amat’s total sales in the city.

“As we said of 2013, in Barcelona city the foreign buyer market is very active, and those buyers generally accord priority to new property,” Amat reports.

Amat found a 4 percent increase in the number of foreign buyers compared to a year earlier. The statistics include an increase in foreign purchase in Barcelona’s “hinterlands,” the outlying communities.

“In many cases, foreign buyers were attracted to them by the international schools in those areas, seen as desirable for their children’s education,” Amat says.

Foreign buyers are primarily from Russia and surrounding countries, followed by North African buyers, led by Egyptians.

Amat also found a rise in sales in the middle price range, between €450,000 and €750,000, for second-hand properties, “a segment that had practically disappeared for over five years”. Only 51 percent of total purchases were financed.

“We might also note that this half-year brought operations of other kinds, such as sales of sites, commercial premises and substantial batches of car parks,” the agency said.

Overall, the number of sales handled by Amat in the first half of the year was up 71 percent on the same period a year ago. The total value of the property was 60 percent higher than a year earlier.

“In summary, the average price of the sale operations remained stable overall, although in Barcelona city it rose a little, while in the residential hinterland it fell by a similar percentage,” the agency reports.

In addition, the rental market appears to be “stablising,” with average rental income in the city remaining at the same levels as a year ago, the agency says.

For an SPI analysis on the latest trends in Barcelona, see Barcelona Property Market Recovery Snapshot.

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