French demand for property in Spain is declining faster than any other big market, according to data from the Spanish land registrars’ association.

1,279 Spanish home sales involved a French buyer in the first quarter of the year, down 24pc on the same period in 2023, and just below the ten-year average, as illustrated by the chart above.

In the last ten years Q1 sales to French buyers have been higher in six of them. Excluding the Covid-induced slump of 2021 you have to go back to 2016 to find a first quarter with lower sales, which suggests that French buyers are losing interest in Spanish property, perhaps due to headwinds at home. That said, French demand was only 1pc below the ten-year average.

Year-on-year, the number of French buyers suffered the biggest decline of all foreign markets for property in Spain, with a decline of 24pc, as illustrated by the next chart. So if you are in a market segment where French buyers are important you might find it more difficult than before to find a buyer.

The French share of the foreign market fell to 5.9pc (next chart), down from a high of 10.2pc in Q1 of 2015, leaving them in third place behind British and German buyers, and just ahead of the Belgians. French buyers have averaged 8pc of the foreign market over the last decade.

Where do the French buy homes in Spain? There are no numbers for Q1 to answer that question, but based on Registry data for 2023 it’s safe to say that Catalonia took the lion’s share with close to 50pc, followed by the Valencian region and Andalusia, as illustrated by the final chart.

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