Foreigners are already buying more homes in the Canary Islands than before the pandemic, with a percentage weight of 30.8%, compared to 30.4% in 2019, according to a study by the appraiser Euroval.
The report reviews the evolution of home purchases by foreigners since the end of the 2007 bubble, foreign demand has grown significantly in the last decade and has remained even in low market times.
It should be noted that the archipelago has not been the only autonomous community to exceed its figures, but Aragon (9.9% vs. 9.6%), Asturias (5.5% vs. 5.2%) and the Balearic Islands (39.5% vs. 35.5%) also improve their percentages. Nine others maintain similar numbers: Andalusia (15.9% vs. 16.1%), Castilla-La Mancha (8.8% vs. 9.3%), Castilla-La Mancha (8.8% vs. 9.3%), Castilla y León (4.9% vs. 5.4%), Extremadura (2.8% vs. 3%), Galicia (3.7% vs. 3.8%), Navarra (9.2% vs. 9.3%), Basque Country (4.3% vs. 4.5%) and La Rioja (11% vs. 11.4%).
The whole of Spain is also recovering, although they still do not represent 16.9% of the total sales registered in 2019. While in the year prior to the coronavirus 84,263 homes were sold to foreigners, 16.9% of the 501,085 transactions of that year, in 2021 the amount reached 86,524, 15.3% of the 565,523 sold in Spain, that is, around 3% more houses, according to the INE.
At the opposite pole, five communities present clearly negative evolutions in percentage values, in 2021 compared to 2019: Cantabria (4.3% vs. 5.5%), Catalonia (14.8% vs. 16.5%), Valencian Community (28.5% vs. 34.1%), Community of Madrid (8% vs. 9.7%) and Murcia (23.4% vs. 26.8%).
International purchases account for 7.3% of the total in the Canary Islands
The geographical distribution of the percentage of purchases by foreigners over the national total confirms their preference for coastal provinces and especially those of the Mediterranean coast and the two archipelagos, which together account for more than 80% of the operations carried out by foreigners in Spain in 2021.
However, international purchases over the total number of transactions at the national level decreases significantly. In the Canary Islands it represents 7.3%, two tenths above Madrid (7.1%) and another five above the Balearic Islands (6.8%), while the percentages of the other communities range between 5.4% of Murcia and 0.3% of Extremadura.
According to the Euroval analysis, purchases in the Valencian Community in 2021 accounted for 27.4% of the transactions of foreigners in Spain, a percentage slightly lower than the community average since the beginning of the current upward cycle, in 2015, which is 28.6%. Together with the Valencian Community, Andalusia and Catalonia are the other two communities that have a higher percentage of purchases by foreigners over the national total and the three concentrate 63% of home sales to foreigners in Spain.
By provinces, only in Alicante foreigners buy one in five homes they acquire in Spain, a percentage (19.4%) much higher than the rest. In second position is Malaga (12.6%), followed by Barcelona (8%), Madrid (7.1%), Balearic Islands (6.8%), Valencia (5.9%) and Murcia (5.4%).
The towns that are of more interest to foreigners than to Spaniards
Although the large urban centers of coast and beach are usually the main destinations for housing searches among foreigners, Idealista has compiled this week the 22 towns of less than 5,000 inhabitants where the interest in buying a house is greater from abroad than in Spain.
These are Fuente Obejuna (Córdoba), where 77% of visits received by the portal in recent months came from abroad, the municipalities of Salamanca Garcirrey (69%) and El Milano (66%); Cala Ratjada (63%), in Mallorca; Laroya (61%), in Almería; Valle Gran Rey (57%), in La Gomera; Cómpeta (Málaga), also with 57% and Ciudad Quesada (55%), in Alicante.
Also, Canillas de Albaida and Sayalonga (both in Málaga), with 54% of visits from foreigners looking for housing; Benitachell (Alicante), Cala Millor (Mallorca), Arboleas (Almería) and Cala Bona (Mallorca), with 53%; Sa Coma (Mallorca) and the Gomera town of Alajero (Santa Cruz de Tenerife), with 52% of foreign searches and Albanchez (Almería), Deya (Mallorca), Cala D’Or (Mallorca) and Lubrín (Almería), with 51%.
With the same interest to buy a house by foreigners and nationals are located, according to Idealista, Jete (Granada) and Portbou (Girona).
