The Canary Archipelago has gained great popularity among foreigners in recent years. Residents of other European countries, including Germany and the UK, have a special love for him. One of the most popular destinations is the island of Tenerife and its northern part — Puerto de la Cruz.
Typical resort real estate is quite widely represented on the islands. Houses and villas with terraces, gardens and swimming pools. Oliver Schmitz, the owner of one of the local real estate agencies points out that foreign buyers are willing to spend extremely large sums of money on local real estate. Houses priced around 800,000 euros are easy enough to find their buyer.
However, the buyer's profile is dynamic. In the last couple of years, the average European tourist aged 60 and over has been replaced by young families who look more broadly at the local market, consider buying, investing in housing, as well as renting, with an equal degree of interest.
In 2022, more than half of the real estate purchased in the Canary Islands fell into the hands of foreigners. More than 13 thousand contracts were signed. Among the buyers are residents of Germany, as well as Lithuanians, Poles and even Croats. Market participants emphasize the high excitement in the market and long queues of buyers. Supply is scarce and demand is huge, especially when taking into account the growth of buyers from central and eastern Europe. The market lacks new buildings.
There are also several problematic situations in the archipelagos. For example, there is a problem with the elderly population over 65 years old. In Spain, including the Canary Islands, there are quite a large number of elderly people. More than 8 million people at this age own some kind of housing in the country. However, against the background of the current economic situation, inflation, falling incomes, many of these people are in danger of being deprived of their housing due to the inability to make payments on it.
This is especially true for pensioners, since the average pension in the country does not reach even 1,300 euros. The abundance of foreign demand in local markets only aggravates the situation, pushing up prices for buying and renting real estate. Therefore, the elderly population, in the worst case for themselves, will not even be able to change their place of residence, because even modest housing today will cost an unacceptable amount of money.
For some Spanish citizens, and not only from the elderly population, the means of a normal existence began to end in July-August 2022. At the same time, one should not discount the fact that the elderly population needs to spend money on paying for the services of people who will look after and take care of them. This is an additional burden to the so-large utility costs and living expenses in general.