Foreigners bought 27% of Spanish property in first quarter of 2014

British buyers accounted for almost 14% of all foreign national property transactions in the first quarter of the year

The Spanish General Council of Notaries has published figures that show foreign nationals were responsible for 27.2 per cent of all residential property transactions in the first three months of the year.

Of that figure, 13.8 per cent were British buyers, who traditionally come out on top in these polls given the long love affair many Brits have enjoyed with Spain over the years. In second place were French buyers at 10.5 per cent – also a traditional heavyweight nation when purchasing Spanish property – while the Russian market made good on its persistent promise to enter the Spanish property market by coming in third, with Russians representing 8.4 per cent of all foreign buyers…

And while Irish buyers only made up a few per cent of the foreign figure, Irish interest was up a massive 78 per cent on last year, indicating that the economic conditions on the Emerald Isle have improved dramatically in the space of 12 months.

However, Irish improvement was overshadowed by rising interest from China, where 83.1 per cent more buyers were recorded in the first quarter of the year compared to the final quarter of 2013 – a stark indication that the Spanish property market has begun to appeal to wealthy Asian investors.

Within Spain, interest from foreign buyers has largely been centred, as one would expect, on coastal regions, with the Costa del Sol once again leading the way in terms of the number of transactions made. However, in terms of year-on-year growth, no region can match Madrid, which enjoyed a 40 per cent increase in foreign interest in the past 12 months.

Spain’s much-touted ‘Golden Visa’ programme has helped attract Russian and Chinese investors, if not quite in their droves, then at least in attitude. On the flip side, American buyers – although showing an 88.9 per cent increase in interest in Spanish property – accounted for just one per cent of foreign property transactions in the first quarter of the year.

While recovering economies in many of the Spanish property market’s traditional countries has helped swell interest, falling property prices have also played their part. According to Spanish property valuation company Tinsa, the average property price in Spain fell 6.7 per cent between the end of 2013 and the end of the first quarter of 2014, indicating that many would-be investors have been willing to bide their time in an attempt to snap up a bargain. Compared to the market’s peak in mid-2007, property prices are some 40 per cent cheaper.

However, in Spain’s more mature property markets – particularly those on the Costa del Sol – prices are ahead of the nationwide curve and likely reached the bottom at some point last year. Experts predict that prices in these regions are likely to start rising soon, possibly before the end of 2014.