Staff Reporter
FOREIGN demand is showing a marked slowdown for the first time since 2010, new statistics have suggested.
As reported on Spanish Property Insight, after some nine years of growth it was ‘bound to happen’ but it doesn’t bode well for the swathe of new developments on the Spanish coast targeting European holiday-home buyers.
Property sales deeds entered in the Spanish land register by foreign buyers in the first quarter of this year numbered 16,331, compared to 16,833 in the same period last year – a 3% decline.
Most buyers came from the UK (2,249), followed by France (1,232) and Germany (1,124), according to the latest report by Spain’s Association of Land Registrars.
Mark Stucklin of Spanish Property Insight explained: “By country all the big European markets declined together in Q1, the first time that has happened since the crisis.
“Sweden led the way down with a slump of 35% compared to last year, followed by Belgium, Germany, the UK and France all on the skids.
“These are the main markets for holiday-homes on the Spanish coast.”
He added that there has been an increase in demand from Morocco, China, Algeria, and Romania, driven by economic migrants and Spanish Golden Visa investors.
He added: “Local demand grew by 4.8% in the same period to 117,529 homes sales inscribed in the register. As a result the market share of foreign buyers dipped slightly to 12%.
“It looks like foreign demand for second homes in Spain is going soft…the factors driving the change in demand will vary from market to market. I
“If there are any factors in common they might include high property prices in Spain now that prices have recovered from crisis lows, high transaction costs, bureaucratic hurdles and lack of market transparency.
“The trend in foreign demand is clearly downwards and looks set to continue so in the next few quarters at least.”
