Foreigners are buying homes like never before and paying a record price.

They starred in 21.1% of the total sales in Spain, an unprecedented figure to date. Non-residents pay almost 2,600 euros/m2, a record price.

Foreigners have more weight than ever in the housing market in Spain. According to data from notaries, in the second half of 2022 they bought 70,163 homes in Spain, 9.7% more in year-on-year terms and the second largest volume in the historical series.

Despite the fact that the transactions are slightly below the first six months of last year (73,466), they have represented 21.1% of the total home sales, the highest figure in the historical series. Until now, the record was held by the second half of 2015, with 20.3% of operations. In addition, the data exceeds the average registered between 2010 and 2021 (17%) by more than four points.

What also stands out in the notarial statistics is the average price that foreigners have paid when buying real estate in Spain. Specifically, the average amount stood at 2,089 euros per m2 between July and December, the highest since 2008. After the two semesters of that year, it is the highest average price in the historical series.

The new maximum price has been driven mainly by the average price paid by non-resident foreigners for their homes, which is at all-time highs with 2,558 euros/m2, after rising by 3.1% year-on-year.

This amount far exceeds those paid by both resident foreigners (1,668 euros/m2, 6.4% more than in the second half of 2021) and national buyers (1,553 euros/m2, 3.3% more year-on-year). However, the average price paid by foreigners for homes depends to a large extent on nationality. Specifically, the largest amounts were paid by buyers from Switzerland (2,904 euros/m2), Sweden (2,885 euros/m2), Denmark (2,881 euros/m2), the US (2,809 euros/m2), Germany (2,685 euros/m2) and Norway (2,656 euros/m2).

Foreigners who buy more homes in Spain

By nationality, the British continue to be the most numerous home buyers, representing 10.72% of the total operations (7,520), followed by Germans (9.33%) and French (7.35%). In the whole of the year, they have also been the most prominent profiles, followed by Moroccans, Rumanians, Italians, Belgians, Dutch, Swedish and Chinese. The 'top 15' are completed by, Ukrainians, Irish, Americans and Argentines.

Where do foreigners buy homes?

The notaries assure that, after the growth of almost 10% year-on-year in the purchase and sale of homes in Spain by foreigners, "four semesters of continuous ascents are spun after the falls registered in 2020 and 2019, although in this second part of 2022 there is a more moderate increase than that observed in 2021 (44.2%) and the first semester of 2022 (53.7%)”.

According to official data, resident foreigners carried out 55.5% of the sales, and increased by 11.2% year-on-year, while 44.5% of the operations were carried out by non-residents, with an increase of 8% compared to the last six months of 2021.

All the autonomous communities registered an increase by foreigners.

As regards the volume of transactions, the Valencian Community (Alicante & Valencia) is the region where foreigners bought the most homes in the second half of last year, with more than 20,700 units. They are followed, at a distance, by Andalusia (13,434), Catalonia (10,970), the Canary Islands (5,413), Madrid (4,786), the Balearic Islands (3,816) and Murcia (3,541).