Brits remain the biggest buyers of Spanish property

With Spanish property market conditions continuing to improve, there was a significant rise in foreign demand for property in the country in the second quarter of the year with British purchasers still by far the biggest group of overseas investors.

According to new figures released by the Spanish land registry, foreign buyers were involved in 14,429 of the home sales recorded in Q2 2016, up 29.1% compared with the corresponding period last year.

The market share of foreign buyers in the second quarter of the year hit a near all-time high of 13.4%, suggesting that appetite from foreign investors for property in Spain is growing.

Total sales in Q2 were up 23.7% to 107,838, as purchases involving local buyers also increased – up 22.9% year-on-year to 93,409.

The British were once again the biggest group of investors in Spain, accounting for a fifth of all Spanish properties sold to foreigners, followed by the Germans with 8%, and the French and Swedish with 7% each.

Somewhat surprisingly, given the uncertainty around the EU referendum and declining value of the pound against the euro, British demand for property in Spain rose by 29% year-on-year in Q2, although it is worth noting that the EU vote took place at the tail end of the second quarter on 23 June.

“These figures do not reflect sales after the referendum,” said Mark Stucklin of Spanish Property Insight. “If there has been a big drop in British buyers since the Brexit vote, it probably won’t show up until the Q3 and Q4 figures are released.”

“I expect to see a noticeable decline in the Q3 figures when they come out,” he added.