Overseas Property Investment Drives Spanish Market

Investment by overseas property investors in the Spanish property market is expected to reach a new record high this year.

The first half of the year has already seen investment from non-Spanish investors on property reach €888 million, representing a rise of over 100 per cent when compared to the first six months of 2016.

It seems that overseas investment continues to drive the Spanish property market growth. 2016 saw foreign investors responsible for 13.2 per cent of all property transactions in Spain, which in itself represented the highest proportion of foreign property investment since before the global financial crisis in 2008.

However, according to the latest report from property company JLL, foreign real estate investment in 2017 is expected to vastly outdo the previous year judging by the first six months activity. 2017 will then represent the eighth consecutive year of foreign investor growth in the Spanish property market, confirming further the recovery of the market since the 2008 crisis.

British overseas property investors still topped the list of foreign buyers in Spain during 2016 despite the Brexit vote in June of that year confirming Britain’s exodus from the European Union, responsible for 19 per cent of the 53,500 property purchases made by foreign buyers during the year.

French buyers were found to be in second place on the list, but with with a much smaller share of 8 per cent of the foreign buyer market in Spain.

German buyers followed close behind the French with 7.6 per cent, and investors from Sweden made up the top four with a 6.7 per cent of the overseas property investor market.

With British interest still staying strong in 2017 and joined by a growing number of other nationalities including increasing interest from Russia, it seems that Spain is likely to enjoy a strong property market for the foreseeable future.