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ARCHIVED - British home purchases in Spain register an all time low
The British still top the foreign buyers market in Spain, but Germany and France are catching up
While many UK news outlets have claimed in recent days that Brits are leaving popular expat areas such as the Costa del Sol ‘en masse’, sources from the real estate sector in Spain have clarified that while British property sales have definitely slowed down post-Brexit, the trend represents a “trickle” rather than a surge.
According to official data from the College of Registrars, people from the UK, who have traditionally sat at the top of the foreign property market in Spain, continued in first position in the second quarter of 2021. However, purchases by the British still fell to an all-time low of 9.5% during this period with the Germans hot on their heels for the first time at 9%.
Looking back at 2010, the British accounted for almost 35% of home purchases in Spain by foreigners, more than 25 points ahead of both France and Germany. In 2020, however, the number of UK citizens buying homes in Spain plummeted, while the French held steady and Germany experienced a huge rebound.
According to Ferran Font, Director of Studies at piso.com, stricter immigration rules and the high cost of health care associated with Brexit has certainly contributed to a decline in the number of British buying property in Spain, but has also resulted in a large increase in retirees putting their houses up for sale, particularly in the province of Alicante.
Emiliano Bermudez, deputy director general of the real estate agency donPiso, has noticed a similar trend, pointing out that since Easter this year, Andalucía and the Canary Islands have also been badly hit, while the Balearic Islands, which remain popular with German travellers, haven’t experienced the same effect.
Sources from the College of Registrars were quick to point out that while the British are certainly buying less in Spain overall, the data for the third quarter, due to be released in November, will paint a far clearer picture, and for the time being, people from the UK are still topping the list of foreign purchases.
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