Surge In Spanish Property Sales To Brits Still Ongoing

The latest Spanish property market figures show purchases by Brits are still soaring.

Following its years in the doldrums, Spain’s real estate sector is again the focus of a surge in property purchases by would-be expats and those looking for second homes in the sun. Rather than suppressing interest from British home buyers as expected, Brexit seems to have spurred a rush to buy before March next year. It seems many hopefully long-term expats are deciding to trade in their British passports for a chance to live in a Brexit-free environment.

During the last three months of 2017, the housing market in Spain grew by an amazing 20 per cent, logging up 110,000 sales, the largest number per final quarter in the past three years. British home-buyers alone accounted for 2,384 property purchases, with the annual total at just over nine thousand. Expats from France were responsible for 1,242 purchases and Germans bought 1,198 properties.

As of now, Britons have a 15 per cent share of the entire Spanish property market, higher by far than Germans and French nationals at around eight per cent. Buyers from Sweden and Belgium were also active, but Swiss purchases fell by 16 per cent. Given that Spain has been a favourite with British holidaymakers and would-be expats ever since cheap flights were brought in, it’s no surprise they’re now topping the list of buyers.

The most popular regions for British home buyers looking for second homes, buy to lets or permanent havens far from Britain’s notorious weather patterns are the Costa Blanca, Malaga, Grenada and the Balearics. Granada provide the most popular late last year, with a 27 per cent rise in real estate purchases, with the Costa Blanca and Balearics seeing a 17 per cent increase and Malaga content with its 15 per cent rise.