Traditionally, the interest of foreigners acquiring residential real estate in Spain tends either to coastal, often resort, areas, or to large cities and agglomerations. Ideal examples are Madrid and Barcelona with their vast suburbs and periphery.
However, there are also foreigners interested in living in much more remote areas: in small Spanish cities, far from beach tourism and places usually popular with expats.
These small towns include Ciudad Quesada, Palop and Busot, all three located in Alicante, as well as Jeune and Vignuela, located in Malaga. There are enough examples of interest from foreigners who want to buy a house in Spain.
The information below is based on the research of the Idealista real estate portal, dedicated to the analysis of metadata on search queries about real estate in unpopular areas of the country.
Foreign buyers and investors have long been a fundamental part of consumer demand for housing in Spain. Thus, according to the General Council of Notaries, in 2021, more than 17% of sales from all residential real estate transactions were made by foreign citizens. In real numbers, this is more than 655,500 real estate sold.
However, their share in the consumer base has not yet reached the levels before COVID-19, in real numbers, foreigners have never bought so much housing in the country.
The above number of properties sold is included in the framework of 111,700 real estate purchase transactions made in 2021 by both foreigners and Spanish citizens. This cumulative volume of transactions broke the previous historical market record, achieved in 2018 with 103,600 real estate transactions.
66,600 transactions were made by foreigners-residents of the country. The remaining 45,100 transactions were made by foreigners who are not residents of Spain.
Among the foreign residents, in most autonomous communities, Romanian and Moroccan buyers stand out. Although British citizens are in the lead in the Valencian community, and Germans and Italians, respectively, are in the Balearic Islands and the Canary Islands.
Among non-resident foreigners, the British and French top the list in almost all regions. Besides, according to the Council of Notaries, they are followed by Germans, Belgians and Americans.
Further analysis will move away from foreign transactions in the main coastal areas, such as Torrevieja, Malaga, Marbella, Alicante and Valencia, and the major capitals — Madrid and Barcelona. Attention will be drawn to small Spanish cities popular with foreigners.
First of all, foreign citizens do not dare to leave areas with a moderate and mild sunny climate. They prefer to look for more remote areas to live in, often within the regions familiar to foreigners, for example, in the warm coastal provinces of the country located along the Mediterranean Sea.
Most often, the choice falls on cities with a population of about 5,000 or less, such as Ciudad Quesada, Palop and Busot in the province of Alicante. They are most preferred by visitors from the Netherlands. The popularity of these areas among citizens of Great Britain, Germany and Belgium is also noted.
It is worth noting that none of the regions has access to the coastline. It is located near major tourist areas such as Torrevieja, Benidorm and San Juan de Alicante, but it isn’t.
At the end of 2021, housing prices in the cities of Ciudad Quesada, Palop and Bust stopped at 2,207 euros, 1,915 euros and 1,484 euros per sq.m, respectively. In most cases, foreigners prefer independent houses at an average price of 300,000 to 500,000 euros.
In Valencia, and its province of the same name, it is worth noting the city of Palma de Gandia, which was one of the small towns that aroused the greatest interest according to search queries from outside Spain.
Mostly Dutch, French and British people were looking for housing in this city. Prices are at the level of 703 euros per sq.m., but there are also villas at a price of about 250,000 euros.