The period of the last 18 months can be described as a real investment boom in the Spanish property market. Such good results have not been recorded since 2007, which was considered a record year.
Just recently, there was excitement about the phenomenal results achieved in the various quarters of 2021, while recent reports indicate that 2022 could be even better! According to the latest figures, more than 173,000 property purchase transactions were recorded in Spain in the first quarter of this year alone, translating into a 25% increase on 2021.
Another record-breaking month
June was a period of continuation of the upward trend in the number of property purchase transactions in Spain. Data collected by the Association of Notaries shows that during the first six months of 2022, the Spanish property market managed to outperform the same period last year: January 2022. – up 34.5%, February up 19.2%, March up 15.5%, April up 15.5%, May up 7.3% and June up 3.5% year-on-year. Although the figures for May and June show a slight deceleration in growth, still the number of transactions recorded in the Spanish property market herald that we are currently experiencing our best year in a dozen years.
Popularity of Andalusia and the Spanish coast
A recently published report, prepared by Tinsa, has revealed the significant contribution of properties located on the coast to the overall performance of the Spanish property market. Homes and flats on the Spanish coast account for 39% of all property transactions in Spain! Some 674,000 transactions were recorded across the country in 2021, an increase on the levels achieved in 2019 (+18%) and 2020, respectively. (+38%) The representation of coastal markets in national sales is therefore one of the locomotives driving the Spanish property market.
Against the background of the country as a whole, Andalusia’s property market is performing phenomenally. The latest figures show that during the first six months of 2022, more than 75,000 property purchase/sale contracts were concluded in its territory. The month with the highest number of transactions was March, closely followed by June.
Foreign investors in Spain
Of the total number of more than 670,000 property sales in Spain in 2021, foreign investors were responsible for 15%. The nations most likely to buy property during the past 12 months were the British, Germans and the French. There has also been growing interest from Swedish nationals, who have been playing an increasingly important role in the Spanish market for several years. In addition, the growing interest in Spanish properties on the part of Poles is also encouraging. Our compatriots are increasingly willing to invest in the Iberian Peninsula, thanks to which they once again found themselves in the TOP10 nations that bought a house or flat in Spain, in Q1 and Q2 2022. Their share was 2.4 per cent and 3.1 per cent of all transactions, respectively, carried out by foreigners.
Spanish market reacts to international events
The excellent performance achieved by the Spanish property market is a derivative of several significant events that the international community has had to face in recent months. Shifts in housing preferences, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting restrictions, undoubtedly stand out.
Inflation, which countries on all continents of the globe are facing, is also having a huge impact on the increase in the number of investors interested in buying property in Spain. In an era of declining purchasing power of money, buying a luxury property is an excellent alternative to other forms of capital investment.
When analysing current events, one cannot, of course, also overlook the war in Ukraine, which has caused concern among a large part of the European population, especially in the south-east. In March, when Russia attacked Ukraine, there was an almost 30% year-on-year increase in property transactions in Spain.
Price competitiveness and favourable mortgage terms (lower than in other countries) are key factors attracting foreign investors and predestining the Spanish property market to be one of the most interesting and promising forms of investing and securing capital.
