Both foreign and domestic buyers fuelling Spain property growth, data shows

Property prices are now at 2004 levels, the data showed, buoyed by domestic and foreign demand.

The Notaries Association in Spain has published property sales figures for March that show a 19.5 per cent increase in transactions for the month when compared to March 2016…

And if this increase was not encouraging enough, the data also shows that there is an improving balance between both foreign and domestic demand.

During the tough years of Spain’s recession, domestic buyers – while still the bulk of the market by pure dint of numbers – were relatively thin on the ground, with demand from British, Scandinavian, German and Russian buyers keeping the sector afloat.

In 2017, however, a stronger Spanish economy is underpinning a growing confidence in most Spaniards’ financial security, which in turn is leading to increased home and car purchases.

As always, Spain is a city of contrasts and not every region or market is performing the same. The new build home sector is still relatively suppressed, while apartment sales are up by 20.5 per cent and family homes by 15.6 per cent.

The notaries’ data also revealed that the average selling price was back at 2004 levels – a couple of years before the absolute peak, but certainly higher than they have been for a while.

Interestingly, data from the Land Registry, which ranks sales based on homes inscribed on the land register and not actual sales for the month, revealed a 30 per cent increase in transactions in March compared to the same month last year.

This “lag” typically covers a two-to-three month period.