Brits drawn to affordable Spanish beach property

Obvious attracts: the allure of beachside Spanish property is proving strong to British buyers

The resurgent strength of the Spanish property market is manifesting in a greater desire among British buyers for affordable beachside homes – something that Spain has in droves.

Underpinned by the country’s wider economic recovery, the Spanish property market has begun to recover the gusto that characterised it at the turn of the millennium, only this time with greater transparency and appeal to discerning British buyers…

Bloomberg reports that a growing number of Brits are seeing the value of investing in Spanish property, taking advantage of the strength of the pound, the stability and affordability of real estate in Spain, and the attractiveness of the market, in terms of choice, build quality and financing.

According to Bloomberg, Brits are the largest group of investors in the Spanish real estate market, buoyed by the near-zero interest on UK savings accounts and domestic UK housing prices. Such a scenario makes it less attractive to invest in British property, with Spain’s plethora of excellent beachside apartments, villas and townhouses proving alluring.

In the first nine months of 2014, non-Spaniards invested €6.05 billion in Spanish property, says Bloomberg, which represented a 30 per cent increase on the same period in 2013, according to data from Spain’s Ministry of Public Works.

This investment amounted to 40,338 property transactions, a 27 per cent increase on the year prior, with the Andalucía region leading the charge.

In the final quarter of 2014, purchases from overseas buyers accounted for 13.9 per cent of all Spanish property transactions – a record, and one that is set to be broken in 2015 as more and more Brits keep the Spanish property market ticking over, supported by French and German investors.

With low interest rates at home deterring savers, the option of investing into the beautiful bricks and mortar of a Spanish property is proving strong for many, particularly following the pound’s 13.5 per cent rise against the euro in the past 12 months.

Viewed from Spain, its fast-growing economy is starting to turn the heads of investors who had been put off from investing in the country during the worst years of the recent economic crisis – a trend that is also helping domestic sales to recover, too, with Spanish residential purchases increasing by 2.2 per cent in 2014, when 319,389 transactions were registered.

Demand for Marbella property is so strong that the region is seeing a mini construction boom

“We are basically seeing demand for first homes from Spaniards in Madrid and Barcelona, and demand for second homes in coastal areas from foreigners,” said Dario Fernández of Jones Lang LaSalle Inc, who added that interest in regions such as Marbella is so strong that a number of international funds are looking to acquire new land plots in the region in order to account for the rising demand.

According to Fernández, some 400 units are currently under construction in Marbella – the highest figure for six years.