Stats Show Interest in Spanish Property among European buyers has Grown by Double Digits

Stats Show Interest in Spanish Property among European buyers has Grown by Double Digits

Brits are still buying property regardless of Brexit uncertainty

Brits have always been the largest single group of foreign buyers of Spanish property. Given that around one-fifth of all Spanish properties sold to non-Spaniards go to Brits, it can be misleading to try and compare other nationalities to British buyers on a like-for-like basis.

That is why the Spanish property portal Kyero has decided to take a different approach across recent months by grouping “Europeans” into a single entity. The results of doing so have been eye-opening.

When Europeans are classed into a single group like this, the data shows that 60% of all inquiries on Spanish property Kyero receives come from Europeans, with the growth since last summer reaching double digits.

The portal has recorded an increase of 25% in leads and enquiries year-on-year (based on the data from February), but the highest spike in growth has come from Europeans.

One interesting statistic is that Spanish property enquiries from British buyers has risen 36% over last February, but sales have only increased by just 1.5% - an anomaly that would appear to be fuelled by Brits taking more of a “wait and see” approach to Spanish property until the issue of the Brexit is sorted. There is certainly a lot of demand for Spanish property from Brits, but they are holding out on actually making the purchases until Article 50 is finished.

This isn’t the case with the Germans, where both interest and sales have increased by over 20% over the past year. Despite Germany facing a general election in 2017, the politics in the country have been stable for a long time, which is reflected by the willingness of the population to purchase overseas property.

Kyero analyst Richard Spiegal understands that Brits are taking a wait and see approach, but is still convinced that would-be buyers will only be mildly inconvenienced by the Brexit. Spiegal said that the majority of British buyers would just be mildly inconvenienced by the Brexit, feeling that it isn’t likely going to change access to travel, the availability, and property rights.

Brits are still interested in buying, but are just in a holding pattern while waiting to see how the Brexit negotiations will unfold. Even though the British are going through a temporary pause for now, the Spanish property market is still on the rise. This is just a further testament to the appeal of the country to people from around the rest of Europe, and indeed the world.