The German market for Spanish property
Data and analysis of the German market for property in Spain in periodic reports highlighting key trends of interest to anyone looking to buy or sell property in areas of Spain where the Germans are active in the local property market.
The annual report will go into more detail on German demand by region, how much buyers from Germany spend on property in Spain, and the headwinds / tailwinds driving or hindering buyers from Germany. The half-yearly report just updates the main charts with the latest numbers. The first annual report will be published for 2024 when the numbers are available in the first half of 2025.
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2024 H1
2,972 Spanish home sales inscribed in the Land Registry in the first half of 2024 (H1) involved a German buyer, down 12pc compared to the same period in the previous year, yet 17pc above the ten-year average, and the third best H1 on record for German buyers in Spain.
The Germans were the second biggest group of foreign buyers of property in Spain in H1, behind the British and ahead of the French.
The market share of German buyers (as a percentage of the overall number of foreigners buying property in Spain) fell to 6.9pc, down from a high of 9.3pc in 2022.
Looking at the year-on-year percentage change in sales in both H1 and Q2 compared to other countries, Germany was one of the markets to see the biggest decline in H1, behind only France and Russia, but the Q2 decline fell to -8pc, which was the second smallest decline in the period, suggesting a more positive trend developing as the year progresses.
Where do the Germans buy homes in Spain? There are no figures yet for H1 2024 but the picture from 2023 will be broadly similar, as illustrated by the final chart below.
Why are fewer Germans buying property this year? German buyer numbers surged in the wake of the pandemic, so to some extent a correction was inevitable. Amongst other headwinds and tailwinds it also looks like falling house prices back in Germany might be having a negative impact on the number of German buyers heading to Spain this year.
2024 Q1
Spanish property sales involving a German buyer declined by 17pc in the first quarter but sales were still significantly higher than in the pre-pandemic period, show the latest figures from the Land Registrars’ Association.
1,457 Spanish home sales involved a German buyer in Q1, down 17pc on the same time last year, but 15pc above the ten-year average, as illustrated in the chart above.
Year-on-year, German demand suffered one of the biggest declines in the first quarter, behind only France and Russia, as shown by the next chart.
The German share of the foreign market fell to 6.8pc (next chart), down from a high of 9.5pc in Q1 of 2022, leaving them in second place behind the British on 9.1pc. German buyers have averaged 7.5pc of the foreign market over the last decade.
Where did they buy? There are no numbers for Q1 to answer that question, but based on Registry data for 2023, more than 50pc of Germany buyers bought in the Valencian region and the Balearics, with the Valencian region taking the top spot for the first time ever.
