Report Shows a Rising Demand by British buyers for Spanish Property.

The College of Property Registrars have released data that shows that there has been an increase of 81% in the number of British buying Spanish properties. This is a welcome return of foreign investors to the market.

Data was released earlier this year that showed that Brits were responsible for buying 21%, or one fifth, of the properties sold to foreign nationals in 2015. These statistics also show the strength of the recovery for British buying property in Spain.

British buyers in the Costa del Sol.

The amount of property transactions involving British buyers in 2015 was up to 9,956, a huge increase on the numbers for last year and more than twice the amount of French investors, who made up 9% of foreign transactions with 4,116 homes purchased in Spain last year.

The third largest group of buyers were the Germans, who purchased 7%, or 3,445, of the homes sold to foreign investors.

Demand from foreign buyers has risen by 11% in 2015 based on sales figures from 2104. The signs so far point to an even bigger rise in 2016.

Spanish Property expert Mark Stucklin says that the biggest story from last year is that there was an 81% rise in British demand for Spanish properties. The British are once again the dominant force in foreign demand, but they aren’t quite at the levels they were during the boom period and many northern Europeans are starting to move to Spain in search of a better lifestyle and warmer climate.

Stucklin also commented on what he feels made the market more desirable than in previous years. He said this was down to the low Spanish property prices, as prices have dropped roughly 40 to 50% from their peak before the crash, and the strength of the Euro compared to the pound making it very attractive to buy property in the Costa del Sol and Spain as a whole.

Report on Spanish homes for sale in the Costa del Sol that offer the best value in Europe.

Map of southern Spain

Report on Spanish homes for sale in the Costa del Sol that offer the best value in Europe.

Another system of measuring property valuation conceived by the Organization for Economic Development (OECD) has devised research that Spanish homes show some of the best value for money in Europe.

Taking into account over 10 years of analysis, the OECD has mapped out house costs in a large number of the world's most developed economic nations against the average wage, and studied this data along a long term projection.

Its research uncover that Spanish property is really underestimated when incomes are taken into account– purchasing a home in Spain not only financially viable for the normal Spanish national, as well as remarkably great value for money for British coming over with strong Sterling and a high salary.

The OECD study did set a score of 100 as the 'average'. A score of 110 does imply that property in that location is at present over-priced by 10% against its long term average.

Spain currently has a price income score of only 74, implying that homes in Spain are as of now 74% of price average over long term. It states that homes in Spain are "under the valued price" by 26%. Considering that the current score within the UK is 107, is shows that good value for money is achieved as standard in the Spanish property market.

Another country in Europe, Hungary has a score of 83 – is also close to Spain´s score, with most other countries achieving either the mid-90s or 100´s above.

Spain's real estate sector is vary varied, and properties in the more famous areas for example, the  Property for sale in Marbella Costa del Sol would likely score more like 100, yet the OECD research took into account national predictive trends over a 10 year period.

Also, the property sector has started to take note. Spain's financial improvement in the previous 15 months, fortified by solid economies in northern Europe, have enticed purchasers back to its property market, and 2016 is projected to be an exceptionally solid year for the sector.

Besides, when new tax laws are put into effect in the UK in April, Spanish real estate will have an even bigger appeal. From April 1st, second homes purchased in the UK will be liable to an extra 3% stamp duty on the purchase price, yet this duty applies only to British property, not homes purchased in Spain.

So, if you are a British national and have UK savings, you could be enticed to look to secure your financial future with an astute property investment, there truly is not a more discerning property market in Europe than Spain at this current moment– and the research demonstrates it, concluding that Spain and the Costa del Sol is a great place to buy property.