Spain continues to be a pole of attraction for the purchase of homes by foreigners. According to data from notaries, foreigners bought 69,412 homes in Spain in the first half of the year, 1.8% more year-on-year, representing one in five transfers that were carried out in that period (20.4%).
This increase has broken with two consecutive semesters of declines and has been driven by purchases by resident foreigners (40,389 transactions, with an increase of 4.2% compared to last year), since those of non-residents as a whole have fallen by 1.4%, with 29,023 sales.
By nationality, the British have remained the great reference in terms of volume of operations, although the leading role has been taken by buyers from countries such as the USA, Portugal, Italy or Ukraine, which between January and June have acquired more properties than ever in our country.
According to the notarial historical series, which begins in 2016, between January and June the citizens of eight countries on different continents have broken sales records. In Europe, the numbers of Ireland, Italy, Poland, Portugal and Ukraine stand out, to which the US and Colombia are added as the examples of North and South America, and Morocco in the case of Africa. The group that falls within the category of 'others from outside the EU' is also at its highest.
Of all of them, the most prominent in terms of volume of operations is Morocco, whose citizens bought 5,452 homes in Spain in the first half of the year, with a weight of almost 7.9% of total transactions led by foreigners. It is the second most prominent country of origin, only surpassed by the United Kingdom (8.4%) and ahead of Germany (third in the ranking, with 6.8%).
The next nationality that is at record levels and that encompasses the most sales is Italian (4,332 homes acquired until June), followed by Polish (3,105) and Ukrainian (2,058). In his case, the volume of transactions has soared by 70% in just two years, coinciding with the outbreak of the war with Russia.
Already below the 2,000 homes purchased in the first half of the year are the Americans (1,363 operations), who in recent times have taken advantage of the euro-dollar exchange rate to buy cheaper; as well as the Irish (1,186), the Colombians (1,073) and the Portuguese (921). Meanwhile, the group in 'others outside the EU' brings together more than 7,700 sales.