Number of British buyers in Spain rises 26% in a year

The number of Brits buying in Spain has increased by 26% this year compared to sales in 2014.

A number of estate agents operating in the Spanish property market have reported that the volume of Britons buying in the country has risen by around 25% since 2014.

Furthermore, figures from sources across the real estate spectrum confirm that the recovery of the Spanish property market is in full swing across most regions, with Lucas Fox International and Engel & Volkers confirming that confidence is high among both foreign and national buyers…

Indeed, according to Lucas Fox, the number of properties sold to national buyers has increased by 50% this year.

Third quarter statistics published by the Spanish Property Registrars show that more than 80,000 homes changed hands between July and September, which was a 16% increase on the same quarter in 2014.

Over that period, the Registrars data confirmed, the number of buyers from the UK increased by 53% – a combination of the strong pound versus the euro, affordable prices, the strong British economy and the promise of rising housing values in Spain.

“The last time the pound was above €1.4 was in 2007, and it has been consistently so during 2015,” read the report from the Spanish Property Registrars. “Spanish property prices in prime locations are still hugely competitive, especially if you compare them to the likes of other key European property investment hubs. An improving local economy is another major factor – growing at 3.4% from July to September, the fastest annual rate since 2008.”

Further encouraging news came from Spanish mortgage specialist Mortgage Direct, which said that increasingly competitive rates are bringing more and more buyers into the market.

“I think we are in for a prolonged period of low rates in the Eurozone,” Mortgage Direct broker Kevin Monger told the OPP. “The economic climate is still very poor in many of the countries that make up the zone.”

Data published earlier in the year revealed that Brits have accounted for one-fifth of all Spanish property transactions to foreign nationals this year.