The sale of unrestricted housing by foreigners increased by 2% year-on-year in Spain in the first half of the year, reaching 71,155 transactions, with Britons, Moroccans, and Germans leading the way.
In the Canary Islands, however, it fell by 7.7%, while the price of acquired properties rose by 14.1%.
Among the foreign residents in the archipelago, Italians accounted for 22.5% of the transactions, followed by British citizens with 7.5% of the purchases.
In contrast, among non-residents, Germans accounted for 22% of transactions, while Italians came in second with 11.6% of purchases in this population group.
This is deduced from data published this Thursday by the General Council of Notaries, which shows that transactions carried out by foreigners accounted for 19.3% of the total in the first half of the year, a slight decrease compared to the first half of 2024 (20.3%) and 2023 (21.3%).
Residents already account for more than 60% of purchases among foreigners
Foreign residents accounted for 60.9% of these purchases, 6.4% more than a year earlier, while non-residents accounted for the remaining 39.1%, registering in this case a decrease of 4.1% in a context marked by the end of 'golden visas' and the announcement of tax disincentives for purchases by non-residents.
Except for in four autonomous communities, the purchase and sale of homes by foreigners increased in all of them. The largest increases occurred in Asturias (30.8%), Castilla y León (25.9%), Galicia (14.3%), Castilla-La Mancha (11.7%), Extremadura (10.6%), Aragón (10.4%) and La Rioja (9.9%).
With more moderate progress are Catalonia (7.1%), Andalusia (6%), Cantabria (5.5%), Murcia (3.1%), the Basque Country (2.4%), and the Community of Madrid (0.1%).
Conversely, and unlike last year, setbacks were observed in the Canary Islands (-7.7%), the Balearic Islands (-6.8%), Navarre (-3.7%), and the Valencian Community (-3.6%).
Those in the US Pay the Most
The average price of transactions carried out by foreigners stood at €2,417/m² in the first half of the year, 7.6% more than a year earlier. Non-residents continue to pay higher amounts (€3,126/m²) than resident foreigners (€1,912/m²) and nationals (€1,809/m²).
Except for Extremadura (-3.5%) and Cantabria (-2.8%), the average prices of properties acquired by foreigners grew in all the autonomous communities, with Madrid (17.1%), La Rioja (16.3%), Canary Islands (14.1%), Murcia (12.2%) and Catalonia (10.9%) leading the way.
The highest average amounts corresponded to those from the USA (€3,465/m²), followed by Switzerland (3,457); Sweden (3,421); Norway (3,292) and Germany (3,270). Buyers from Poland, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, Russia, Ireland, and the United Kingdom also registered prices above the average.
The lowest values were observed among buyers from Morocco (€747/m²), Romania (€1,325) and Ecuador (€1,328).