Catalonia, the third autonomous community with the highest demand for housing by foreigners

by time news

BarcelonaCatalonia continues to position itself as one of the most attractive autonomous communities for foreigners, and not only for visiting it, but also for buying a property, whether it is a second home or living there. Specifically, during 2021, 7.76% of home sales in Catalonia were by foreigners. This figure represents a total of 9,847 home sales.

These data are extracted from the report presented by the Association of Real Estate Agents of Catalonia (AIC), the Official Association of Real Estate Agents of Barcelona (COAPI) and FIABCI Spain, in which they state that a out of ten homes in Spain, they are bought by foreigners, for a total of 60,973 sales.

This is an annual increase of 28.5% compared to 2020 and absolute figures approaching the highs of 2008, of 65,416 homes sold to foreigners. Of the total, 57.4% of purchases correspond to foreigners residing in Spain, and the remaining 42.6% to non-resident foreigners.

Catalonia, among the favorites

The autonomous communities with the highest demand for housing by foreigners in 2021 were the Valencian Country (16,595), Andalusia (13,470), Catalonia (9,847), the Canary Islands (5,148) and the Balearic Islands (5,009), with the which is evidenced by the preference for sun and beach areas.

In terms of nationalities, the largest market shares in 2021 are distributed among Britons, Germans, French and Moroccans. In addition, only 37% of these transactions required a mortgage loan. This represents 5.5% of the total number of mortgages signed in Spain.

Non-residents pay much more

The average price of home purchase by foreigners in the first half of 2021 stood at 1,863 euros per square meter, an annual increase of 4%, following the trend of recent years. But the significant difference lies in the prices paid by non-resident foreigners compared to residents: averages of 2,452 euros per square meter and 1,498 euros per square meter, respectively.

The Balearic Islands are the place where the prices paid by foreigners are highest (3,607 € / m2), followed by Madrid (2,487 € / m2), La Rioja (2,138 € / m2) and Catalonia (2,037 € / m2).

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