A new record has been set on the Iberian Peninsula by Poles. In the whole of 2023, our compatriots bought as many as 3,118 properties in Spain, 142 more than in the record-breaking year of 2022 to date. The latest figures from the Registradores de España show that Poles have become a permanent fixture among the top buyers of Spanish real estate.
Poles consistently in the lead
In Q4 2023, Polish investors acquired 658 flats and houses in Spain. This gave our compatriots 9th place in the ranking of foreign investors with a market share of 3.35%. The first three places were occupied by the British (9.8%), the Germans (7.32%) and the French (6.06%). In Q4 2023, the share of foreign buyers in the Spanish property market reached 15.12%, down 0.32 pp from the previous quarter. In the last year before the pandemic, i.e. 2019, the share of Poles in this market was at 1.6%. 2023 is already 3.6%, so we can see a strong upward trend and an increasing share of our compatriots in the Spanish market.
– The trend of buying with own funds continued at the end of the year. For the whole of 2023, only 10% of customers used loans. In contrast, the ratio of investment purchases to purchases for own use in the past year was 40% to 60%. The group of investment purchases also includes clients who, as a rule, purchase properties for rent, but also use them themselves from time to time, says Agnieszka Kostrzewa, founder of Agnes Inversiones – the largest, oldest and most recognisable Polish real estate agency on the Costa del Sol.
Primary market advantage
According to data from Agnes Inversiones, in the last quarter of 2023, as in the whole of last year, the trend of 70 per cent of purchases in the primary market continued, while 30 per cent went to the secondary market. In Q4 2023. 60% of sales were flats and 40% were detached houses. At the same time, throughout 2023. 65% were flats and 35% were houses, usually with private pools.
The areas of most flats purchased ranged from 80m2 to 250m2, and houses from 180m2 to 650m2. Flats were mostly bought in the price range of €300,000 to €2 million. Villas reached prices of between €1.3m and €5m, with the range between €1.3m and €3m predominating – the cheaper ones were not infrequently destined for general renovation.
What attracts Poles to Spain?
Property buyers in Spain are attracted by the sun shining almost all year round, the rich infrastructure on the Costa del Sol and the region’s good transport links, including an increasing number of flights from Polish airports. Marbella, described as the true pearl of Andalusia, has been named by Knight Frank as one of the top three European locations for holiday home buyers, and was recently awarded the title of ‘European Best Destinaton’.
On the other hand, in the VisaGuide.World ranking , Spain is the leader among the countries that are most favoured by ‘digital nomads’, i.e. people who work remotely using modern technology. The trend among Polish property buyers in 2023 was also evident in the form of long-term rentals, in order to get to know the future place of residence and acclimatise to it before moving to Spain permanently.
The first weeks of 2024 saw a further increase in interest in properties on the Costa del Sol. Indeed, a peculiarity of the Spanish market is the greater availability of properties, and thus a better choice of properties, just at the beginning of the year. It is to be expected that the expected economic recovery in the euro area, coupled with a likely drop in market interest rates, will create further impetus for property investment in Spain. At the same time, lingering geopolitical risks will further encourage investment precisely on the Costa del Sol.
