20 Dec, 2020 @ 11:55
1 min read

Golden Visa driving international property market in Spain’s Valencia

World Cities Day  2020  Valencia
October 30, 2020, Valencia, Valencia, Spain: People walking through the pedestrian square in front of the Valencia city hall during the state of alarm for the Covid19 pandemic on World Cities Day, Valencia 2020. (Credit Image: © Xisco Navarro/ZUMA Wire)

DESPITE the COVID pandemic, house prices, sales transactions and rentals are all skyrocketing in Valencia, with international buyers driving the market.

The city has seen a growing demand from international buyers in recent years, especially from Asia, many of whom aspire to live a Mediterranean lifestyle characterized by gorgeous architecture and a high quality of life at an affordable rate.

However, Asian interest in Spanish properties is primarily fueled by the Golden Visa Program, which allows non-EU nationals to gain permanent residency by buying property worth €500,000 or more.

Ayuntamiento_de_valencia _espa  A _2014 06 30 _dd_119
Valencia town hall

From January to June 2019, 848 residency visas were granted – 132 more approvals compared with the same period in 2018.

Introduced in 2013, the scheme aims at attracting entrepreneurs, encouraging foreign investments in Spanish real estate and job creation. Investors are eligible for permanent residency after five years and Spanish nationality after 10 years.

The scheme does not have minimum stay requirements, which means that investors can remain tax residents outside of Spain, while simultaneously benefiting from the Spanish residency and enjoying the freedom of stay within the EU. However, to apply for permanent residency or citizenship, the investor and their family must reside in Spain.

After years of austerity measures and property prices hitting rock bottom, the Spanish housing market is poised for a rebound, offering substantial capital gains potential in the coming years. Singaporean buyers are discovering the investment opportunities that Spanish properties have to offer, as well as the gateway to earn permanent EU residency.

“The inquiries we have received from Singapore have tripled in recent months. Many are interested in the Golden Visa Program and the local property-buying process,” said Conor Wilde, CEO of Found Valencia Property, an award-winning agency specialised in assisting international home buyers in Valencia. “At Found Valencia, we have solid experience helping foreign buyers

Dilip Kuner

Dilip Kuner is a NCTJ-trained journalist whose first job was on the Folkestone Herald as a trainee in 1988.
He worked up the ladder to be chief reporter and sub editor on the Hastings Observer and later news editor on the Bridlington Free Press.
At the time of the first Gulf War he started working for the Sunday Mirror, covering news stories as diverse as Mick Jagger’s wedding to Jerry Hall (a scoop gleaned at the bar at Heathrow Airport) to massive rent rises at the ‘feudal village’ of Princess Diana’s childhood home of Althorp Park.
In 1994 he decided to move to Spain with his girlfriend (now wife) and brought up three children here.
He initially worked in restaurants with his father, before rejoining the media world in 2013, working in the local press before becoming a copywriter for international firms including Accenture, as well as within a well-known local marketing agency.
He joined the Olive Press as a self-employed journalist during the pandemic lock-down, becoming news editor a few months later.
Since then he has overseen the news desk and production of all six print editions of the Olive Press and had stories published in UK national newspapers and appeared on Sky News.

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