The number of foreigners who bought property in the first half of 2024 was down compared to the last two years, but still the third highest level on record, according to the latest figures from the land registrars’ association.

43,232 Spanish property sales in the first half of the year involved a foreign buyer, down 6pc on the same period last year, according to the land registrars based on sales inscribed in the registry, and illustrated in the chart above.

The chart also shows how foreign demand for property in Spain seems to have found a new higher level after the pandemic, which caused a step-up in the number of people from abroad looking to buy a home in Spain. Foreign demand may have gone off the boil in H1 with a decline of 6pc but it is still remarkably strong by historical standards.

Local demand was down 5pc to 254,517, and total demand (local + foreign) was down 5pc to 297,749, which was 17pc above the ten-year average.

Q2 2024 demand by nationality

Looking just at sales registered in the second quarter, the British were the biggest group of foreign buyers as always, followed by the Germans and the French, as illustrated by the next chart.

In terms of growth American buyers posted the biggest annualised percentage change in Q2 (+21pc), followed by buyers from Poland (+13pc) and the Ukraine (+7pc), The biggest declines came from Russian buyers (-33pc) and the French (-24pc) all illustrated in the final chart.

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