A Quarter of All British Property Enquiries in Spain are for Costa del Sol

A Quarter of All British Property Enquiries in Spain are for Costa del Sol

Properties along the Costa del Sol continue to be extremely popular with the British buyers. Data gathered during the past few years from Conti mortgage specialists has shown that 23% of all the enquiries Brits make about property in Spain has been for property in Costa del Sol.

Costa del Sol continues to be in demand

45% of all the enquiries that Conti have received in 2016 so far have been for Spanish properties. During the past three years the most popular regions have been Marbella, Fuengirola, Puerto Banús, Benalmádena and Sotogrande; also known as the Costa del Sol.

The Costa del Sol did better than the Balearics, which made up 18% of enquiries, while the Canary Islands accounted for 15% of British interest.

Surprisingly it was the Costa Blanca that took the top spot as they pulled in 27% of all enquiries. This is likely because of the fact that the data comes from the past three years; a period of time in which it was hard to find a buyer for the higher end properties in the Costa del Sol. At least for a short time.

The multitude of attractions in the Costa del Sol received praise from Conti for ensuring that buyers were interested in property there all year long. During the summer the beaches would be a smash hit of course. There was still interest during even the winter thanks to the other amenities including golf courses, bars, restaurants, leisure activities, schools, and English-language services.

Director of Conti Clare Nessling said that the Spanish property market is recovering after a tough few years, and that British investors were beginning to fall back in love with the country. While property prices haven’t managed to reach their old peak from before 2008 there are still many signs that the property market is recovering. This is creating confidence among buyers and drawing more interest to the region.

Data from the National Statistics Institute (INE) shows that property prices in the country have risen by an average of 4% over the second quarter of 2016, with the Costa del Sol leading the charge.

Spanish Property Enquiries hits Ten-Month High

Spanish Property Enquiries hits Ten-Month High

There really is no doubt that British home hunters are looking at Spanish property. In a summer dedicated to sport, and with the Rio Olympics on their way, perhaps it would be fair to talk about the Spanish property market using sporting terms.

Regardless of the Brexit outcome Spain looks a great

place to buy property over the next 6 years

The Spanish property market has always been a “podium finisher”, which is to mean that it’s always been popular around the world. Now though a new report from TheMoveChannel.com has suggested that Spain will win the gold medal in 2016 and we’re still only half way through the year.

The data suggests that Spain has become the number one property market for the first time since last September and has overtaken the US as far as property enquiries go.

TheMoveChannel.com reports that Spanish property enquires made up one in eight searches performed on the site in June, with a ratio of 12.27% of all searches being about Spain. This pushed the US down to third with 8.14% behind the UAE, where Dubai is, which was behind 10.12% of searches.

The quarterly data would suggest that the European destinations are becoming more popular than everywhere else though, as Spanish property enquiries went up 17% between the first and second quarter of the year. Italy also saw a major growth with a growth of 14% and there was also an increase in Portugal.

Things weren’t as nice for France however as the country slipped from fourth place to fifth with buyers heading to Spain instead.

TheMoveChannel.com’s Director Dan Johnson commented that the rise in popularity for Spanish property fell in the same month that the UK voted they would leave the EU. So right now it’s still a little too early to see how the Brexit will affect this demand as many of the enquiries were made by Brits. This data would suggest that Brits love Europe (or at least Spain) more than their voting habits would suggest.

Johnson added that the appeal was down to more than just lifestyle attractions. He believes that Spain is also highly sought after by investors. The Spanish economy has been growing steady since the third quarter of 2015 and key areas have seen property prices bottom out now.

Even after the pound weakened following the Brexit vote the Euro also saw a bit of a drop. This means that property still gives investors great value in the UK and elsewhere, with mortgage rates at appealing all-time lows.

Johnson also revealed that, when it comes to transactions, last month was the busiest month for buying property in Spain since July 2013.

Sharp Rise in Spanish Property Enquiries in 2016

Sharp Rise in Spanish Property Enquiries in 2016

Buying property in Costa del Sol is taking off again

Property buyers the world over are looking for homes in  Cota del sol and Spain. This is according to data released by the Move Channel and their Hotspots Index.

The index shows that the number of searches to do with Spanish real estate has doubled in 2016 over 2015. Spain is dominating the top 50 rankings too.

Spain has 15 different locations in the list of Top 50 destinations. This is more than Italy, which has 14, and France and Portugal. Rome was the number one but Spanish Benidorm placed third, which was 13 places higher than its 2015 position. Malaga came in at sixth to help secure the best Spanish performance in the Hotspots Index.

Dan Johnson, director of TheMoveChannel.com said that Spain has gotten off to a great start in 2016 with plenty of interest from overseas buyers. The Q1 2016 Hotspots Index comes with a weakened pound against the Euro after a strong 2015 for the pound. There is a lot of optimism about the real estate market in Europe though and especially in Spain. This makes European real estate one of the best investment options on top of it being a preferred destination for people looking for a better life. Spain offers lower prices, better rents, and low mortgage rates.

Costa del Sol property for sale becoming the most popular property hotspot further shows the importance foreign demand plays in the recovery of the Spanish real estate market. British buyers are trying to find properties in already established expat communities. This is bringing up the price and reducing the supply of properties in these coastal areas. While the “Brexit” may be coming, there’s still plenty of British property buyers investing in the Costa del Sol and all throughout Europe.