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Published: 13th September 2011

*Foreigners rescue Spanish property transactions

The latest figures from the Spanish government (Fomento) show housing sales going up and down like a yoyo.

The headline figure picked up by some news sites show total sales down 41% in Q2 of 2011, compared to the same period last year.   

However the decline is slightly misleading due to the rise in VAT at the end of 2010 that brought forward transactions and inflates last year’s sales figures.

The better news is that the latest available figures show a slight rise in transactions in Q2 of this year, compared to Q1.

The more interesting insight though is that an incredible 23% of total sales in the whole of Spain are accounted for by foreign buyers (residents and non-residents).  I don’t have comprehensive global comparison figures but it is hard to imagine another country so dependent on sales from non nationals.

The British still account for the bulk of the transactions although other nationalities are beginning to buy more, although not in the kind of numbers necessary to replace the lost Brits.

For a details of the figures see the government’s press release.   Another interesting insight is that new homes now account for 34% of the total market, down from 50% last year, but still a massive proportion ot total sales compared to most other countries.

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