British Still the Main Property Buyers

Despite a noticeable dip, Britons Lead as Foremost Foreign Property Buyers in Spain Despite the post-Brexit challenges and a sustained decrease over time, recent data confirms that British nationals continue to be the leading foreign property buyers in Spain.

Even with a decline in numbers in recent years and the complications brought by post-Brexit administrative hurdles that affect long-term enjoyment of their properties in Spain, Britons still form the largest group of foreign property purchasers.

In the second quarter of 2024, foreign nationals constituted 14.8 percent of all property transactions in Spain, a slight decrease from 14.9 percent during the same period in 2023, according to the latest data from Spain’s Association of Registrars.

The British topped the list with 8.4 percent of these transactions, followed by Germans at 7 percent, Moroccans at 6.1 percent, Romanians at 5.3 percent, and the French at 5.2 percent. Even though the stricter residency regulations post-Brexit have had an impact, the decline in British buyers was a trend that had already begun prior to Brexit. In 2014, Britons accounted for 15.77 percent of property purchases, indicating a halving over the decade.

As reported by Spain’s National Statistics Institute, as of 2022, there are 293,171 Britons living in Spain, with a significant number of these new property buyers likely being non-residents who spend part of the year in Spain.

Ferran Font, a spokesperson for the real estate platform Pisos.com, highlighted in the Spanish media, “The comparison of 2024 data with that from 2014 shows that British residents remain primarily interested,” noting a “diversification of buyers” with an increase in Moroccan and Romanian purchasers in Spain during the 2020s.

Regionally, foreign property acquisitions are predominantly in tourist-favored areas such as the Balearic Islands, where a third of all properties (33.4 percent) are purchased by non-Spaniards, followed by the Canary Islands (31.1 percent), the Valencian Community (28.8 percent), Murcia (23.6 percent), Catalonia (16.1 percent), and Andalusia (13.7 percent).

“Spain continues to attract investors robustly, as evidenced by these figures,” stated Font. “Even with a strong upward trend in prices, Spain offers a more competitive residential market compared to others, enabling foreign buyers to play an essential role in driving the market.”

Though there’s a slight year-on-year decline, the level of foreign property purchases in Spain is nearly at the record highs seen in the third quarter of 2023, when they comprised 15.44 percent of the total market transactions.