madrid

Spain has enjoyed the best period for property sales in the past decade, according to a mew report from the national newspaper Expansión, with 121,561 homes sold between July and September 2017, an increase of 16.7 per cent on the same period in 2016.

The sharp upturn is due to renewed appetite from overseas buyers, the report stated. ‘Sales by international buyers grew for the 25th consecutive quarter,’ it announced.

In the major cities of Madrid and Barcelona, foreigners represented 10 and 14 per cent of buyers, a higher than usual proportion. Yet in regions such as Alicante (48 per cent), Tenerife (41 per cent) and the Balearics (34 per cent), the level of foreign investment has jumped dramatically.

The figures are ‘a sure sign that confidence in the Spanish property market has well and truly come back,’ noted one commentator. Overall, foreign buyers made up 17.3 per cent of buyers in the third quarter of 2017, demonstrating a clear trend.

The most active international investors into Spain are from Germany, Scandinavia, Britain and Russia, according to local agents. Together, overseas buyers spent €888 million in Spain in the first half of 2017, far above the €330 million from 2016.

“A decade on from the crisis and Spain’s property market is not only back on its feet but thriving,” said one agent. “The appeal of owning a second property in Spain has endured.”