Brits bought 21% of Spanish property sold to non-Spaniards last year

One-in-seven homes sold in Spain in 2015 were bought by foreign nationals, with Brits accounting for 21% of all non-Spanish buyers.

Further proof – if any were needed – that Brits are in thrall to Spain’s climate, culture and property market was presented this week as data from Spain’s registrars revealed that British buyers accounted for 21% of all homes sold to foreigners in the country last year.

The analysis of the data also showed that one seventh of all property transactions in Spain in 2015 featured non-Spaniards – the highest percentage yet recorded by Spanish registrars…

According to the data, 46,000 homes sold in Spain last year were bought by non-nationals, of which 21.34% – roughly one-in-five – went to a British buyer.

In terms of the fourth and final quarter of the year, that rate rose to 23.95%, which would suggest that Brits’ interest in Spanish property is growing faster than that of other nationalities. During the last three months of 2015, Brits accounted for 3.44% of all property sales in Spain nationwide, out of a total of 84,031 transactions.

For the final quarter, French buyers were the next largest group of buyers, responsible for 8.17% of all Spanish homes bought by foreigners, followed by Germany (7.79%), Swedes (6%), Belgians (5.66%) and Italians (4.19%).

Buyers from China were the seventh-largest group, but their figures are rising sharply, reports the South China Morning Post. Spanish property is currently turning heads among the growing middle classes of China, with one Hong Kong investment firm recently reporting that Spain represents the best value-for-money destination in Europe when it comes to real estate.

And while the Chinese may have a long way to go to match the British in sheer numbers, on an individual basis they are already the biggest-spending tourists in Spain, splashing out an average of €1,000 per head, per visit.

In turn, Spain has begun efforts to lure Chinese tourists and investors in recent months, with many leading hotels now teaching their staff basic Mandarin, and the Spanish government introducing the so-called Golden Visa, which grants residency status to non-EU nationals that invest more than €500,000 in property in Spain.