Alex Trelinski
DESPITE fears of a post-Brexit slowdown and the negative effects of interest rate rises, UK buyers dominated mortgage application requests for home purchases in Spain last year.
The conclusion comes from the online mortgage platform Hippo, which says applications for home financing by non-Spaniards in 2023 was 7% higher than the previous year.
40% of the foreign mortgage applications came from the UK followed by Switzerland(25%) and Germany(18%).
62% of the applications corresponded to a ‘non-resident’ profile, who requested financing to invest in a home purchase in Spain, aimed at exploiting the property to make a profit.
38% corresponded to non-residents wanting to buy a second home to live in it- either permanently or as a holiday home.
Last year, non-resident customers accounted for 19.92% of all mortgage requests on the Hippo portal, with an average financing of 65% of the home’s purchase value (LTV), plus a maximum debt ratio of 30% for these customers.
The average income was €6,500 per month per family unit and the average mortgage amount was around €195,000.
The study showed that the average price of a potential purchase was around €300,000.
A fifth of all non-resident applications were towards a home purchase in the Valencian Community.
Alicante province led the way with 55%; Valencia with 40%: and Castellon with 5%.
Close behind came Catalunya- accounting for 19% of the non-Spanish total.
Third was Andalucia, with 16% of the total- with Malaga province leading the region with 67%, followed by Cadiz (23%).
The fourth position went to the Community of Madrid, with 15%.
The Mediterranean coast, with more than 50% of applications, continues to be the most popular area to buy a home, especially for private use, but also to make a profit.
In contrast, the inland area of Spain is more attractive to real estate speculators.
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