The Spanish property portal Idealista reveals that searches from abroad fell to 9.5% of all searches handled by the portal last year.
Searches conducted from abroad fell from almost 13.5% of the market in 2019, “principally thanks to the coronavirus crisis and the strict travel restrictions on visitors from abroad, which is delaying the decision of many people, both local and foreign, to buy or rent a property,” explains Idealista.
By country, the UK, Germany, and France were, as usual, the leaders in terms of search volume from abroad.
Searches from the UK were number one in 20 Spanish provinces including Alicante, Malaga, and Cádiz.
France was number one in 12 provinces including Valencia, Barcelona, Tarragona and Girona, as always leading demand in the provinces closest to the French border.
The US was number one in 8 provinces including Madrid, Salamanca, and Segovia, presumably driven by Latin Americans based in the US.
Germany was number one in 6 provinces including the Balearics and Santa Cruz de Tenerife in the Canaries.
Italy was number one in Las Palmas, also in the Canaries.
By province, foreign searches were 28.4% of the market in Alicante, 26.2% in Tenerife, 25.6% in the Balearics, 22% in Malaga, and 19.8% in Las Palmas.
In most provinces the searches conducted by people from abroad were focused on coastal areas away from cities, though not in the case of Barcelona, Valencia and Cadiz, where city searches were more numerous in those provinces.