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Mark Stücklin
Part III and the final section of a series analysing foreign demand for property in Spain in 2022, this article reveals where foreigners bought property in Spain in 2022, and how much they spent.
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Foreign investors purchased 143,629 homes in Spain in the course of 2022, up 29% on the previous year, though most of the growth was in the first half of the year suggesting a big slowdown in progress, as explained in part I of this series, whilst part II looked at foreign demand by country, which revealed that the biggest growth last year came from the USA. Here we look at the regional breakdown of foreign demand for property in Spain, all based on data from the Spanish notaries’ association.
Looking just at regions of interest to foreign buyers from rich countries like the UK and Germany buying relocation and second homes (excluding regions where foreign demand is dominated by economic migrants)the Valencian region was the most popular destination with 41,380 foreign purchases last year, followed by Andalusia with 28,388, as illustrated by the chart above, and in the pie chart below. Just three regions – the Valencian region (home to the Costa Blanca), Andalusia (Costa del Sol, Luz & Tropical) and Catalonia (Costa Brava & Dorada), attracted 70% of foreign buyers between them.
Year-on-year, sales grew the most in the Canaries (+51%) followed by the Valencian region (+43%) and Andalusia (+25%), as illustrated in the next chart. However, if you look at sales broken down between the first and second half of the year, you see a big slowdown in growth in the second-half, with sales even declining in the Balearics (-14%) and flat in Andalusia.
Finally, foreigners spent the most in the Balearic region in terms of €/sqm spent on average (3,919 €/sqm) but only 1,587 €/sqm in the Valencian region, where foreign budgets were 60% lower than in the Balearics. So the Valencia region is the most popular region but also one of the cheapest with Murcia. Foreign budgets in €/sqm increased the most in Murcia and Madrid last year, and the least in the Balearics and Andalusia.
In conclusion, buyers from abroad purchased a record quantity of property in Spain in 2022, with sales and budgets increasing in all regions of most interest to second-home buyers, but all the strong growth took place in the first half of the year, with a sharp slowdown showing up in the numbers for the second half.
All articles in this series
