13 October, 2014

By VIVA Team

Money, movement and confidence have returned to Spain’s property market, both domestically and among foreigners

The resurgent Spanish property market kicked into an even higher gear in the last quarter, rising by 12 per cent compared to last year.

According to data released last week by the Ministry of Public Works, the April to June period of this year saw 91,338 properties sold – the best second quarter since 2010 and a notable increase on the same period in 2013…

Of that figure, 16.4 per cent were properties sold to overseas  buyers, which suggests that the recovery is taking place on two fronts: domestically and among foreign investors.

The data also confirmed that the number of properties purchased in Spain by overseas buyers has increased every quarter for the past 12 quarters – which is three straight years in layman’s terms.

On the Costa del Sol, home sales to foreign buyers increased 30 per cent in the second quarter compared with last year, reaching a seven-year high. In Málaga alone, 2,499 transactions were recorded between sellers and an overseas buyer – a figure that puts it well ahead of even Barcelona (1,317 sales) and Madrid (933).

Looked at more widely, the 337,115 property transactions recorded overall in Spain between July last year and June this year represents a year-on-year increase of 12.2 per cent.

For Andalucía, which includes the Costa del Sol region, property transactions in the first half of 2014 were up 35 per cent compared to last year, with 11,295 properties changing hands. These figures remain some way below the peak years of 2005 and 2006, but the downward trend has certainly been arrested as Spain’s property market begins to busy itself once more.