At a time when the pockets of Spanish consumers are sagging, the coastal areas maintain bright prospects for the end of the year due to the return of international buyers, who sank in 2020 and 2021 due to the restrictions on mobility that brought the pandemic. “Having an international market makes it possible to better resist economic cycles” summarizes Aleix Recasens, founding partner of AX Partners, a developer specializing in building single-family homes in Catalonia and the Balearic Islands.
The demand for a second residence by Spaniards increased strongly as a result of the pandemic, and remains robust: it now accounts for 13% of property purchase searches on the Fotocasa portal, according to its director of studies María Matos, compared to 9% that it supposed in 2019. This demand, however, has reduced its purchasing power. Ferran Font, director of studies at Pisos.com, points out that only 9% of those looking for a second home have a budget of more than 200,000 euros, while another 25% would be between 100,000 and 200,000 euros and the rest of the buyers look for prices Lower.
This situation contrasts with the usual prices in coastal areas. According to the appraiser Tinsa, since 2019 they have risen in all areas, with increases ranging from 2% on the north coast and on the Atlantic strip of Andalusia to 16% on the islands. The most frequent price, says Tinsa, is between 2,000 and 2,500 euros/m².
According to the appraiser, the decrease in the budget of national buyers has reduced its weight in operations in high-end holiday areas: Girona, Costa Brava, Eivissa, Formentera and the Costa del Sol in Malaga. At the other extreme, the weight of foreign buyers on the Barcelona coast is decreasing, and especially in Garraf, due to the increase in demand from people who have the option of teleworking and setting up their first residence there. The national buyer has also gained ground in the cheapest coastal areas, such as the Tarragona coast (between l'Ametlla de Mar and Alcanar), Murcia (between Mazarrón and Águilas), Huelva (Isla Cristina and Ayamonte beaches) and Lanzarote.
The profile of the Spanish second home buyer is a person between 55 and 65 years old, who buys with their own savings or requests 35% financing and who comes from Madrid, the Basque Country and Zaragoza.
"International demand is consolidating around medium-high segments, increasingly distant from the product demanded by the national buyer," says Andrea de la Hoz, senior consultant at the Tinsa Studies Service. In her opinion, some stressed tourist areas such as Mallorca, Eivissa and Malaga, which have rising prices in the first residence (because there is little supply available due to competition from vacation homes), there is also demand from foreigners.
The return of buyers from abroad has made the coastal areas lead the increases in home sales this year, since eight out of ten foreigners buy homes on the coast. In the Balearic Islands, highlights BBVA Research, the increase in sales to foreigners was responsible for 50% of the growth in sales last year.
In Spain as a whole, foreigners buy 13.2% of homes, the usual levels before the pandemic, after having hovered around 11% in 2020 and 2021. However, their weight is greater in the Balearic Islands (35.4 %), Canary Islands (26.9%), Valencian Community (25.5%).
