Indian buyers set to snap up Spanish property

Sun, sea and residency: Spanish property curries favour with Indian buyers

The Spanish government’s plan to offer residency permits for foreign investors buying property worth more than €160,000 is predicted to attract wealthy investors from India.

The scheme, which has already piqued the interest of Russian and Chinese buyers, could prove to be a boon for Spain’s property industry, enabling the market to get a jump on its European competitors offering similar, but less generous, incentives.

“This is an effort by the Spanish government to attract foreign investment,” Ernst & Young’s Sonu Iyer told The Economic Times. “Considering that Indians are increasingly being seen as high spenders globally, the scheme will be targeted at them in a big way.”

Spain’s global appeal is universally high, but often for vastly different reasons. Upwardly mobile Indians may view the country’s residency permits as a gateway to offering European-level education for their children, rather than that fabled Mediterranean lifestyle, for example. However, the final details of the scheme have yet to be announced, so industry experts can only make educated guesses and predictions at this stage.

Despite the uncertainty, Indian property experts are confident that Spain’s property market – already a fledgling favourite for high net-worth Indians – will attract considerable interest over the coming 24 months.

“A lot will depend on how Indians see Spain as a job market or a country to do business in, which will be a factor of Spain’s economic outlook,” said Anuj Puri, head of Jones Lang LaSalle India.

The trend for foreign investment in Spanish property has seen a steady upward curve in recent months, with the Brits and Germans – historically the two nations with the most invested in Spain – returning in, if not their droves, then encouraging numbers.

Local agents have also reported that interest is steady from buyers from the Netherlands, Belgium and the Scandinavian countries.

The New Year has also brought flickers of renewed hope for Spain’s wider economy, with public sector reforms and labour law improvements predicted to help ease the country’s financial plight in 2013 and beyond.