Almost 10 years ago, graffiti appeared on the facade of one of the houses on the road to Llanes: "Tourists, Asturias is not for sale". As you might guess, this appeal referred to tourists-trying-to-become-expats, indicating without embarrassment that housing in Asturias would not be sold to them.
This situation was observed in different parts of the country. Locals have always looked at foreigners as opponents. Their demand and their money pushed prices up, cutting off the local population from the opportunity to buy a normal place to live.
In those years, such an attitude was based on the echo of the crisis of the late 00s. When the situation in the economy began to straighten out, the indignation subsided. But today, against the background of a new round of the global crisis, the voice of discontent has become heard with renewed vigor.
In Spain, the situation with a housing shortage is getting worse, and the demand from foreigners is only growing. The incomes of the Spanish population are falling, and wealthy international buyers continue to buy up offers, pushing prices even higher — to unacceptable heights.
The situation is not an object for jokes, even the authorities of the Spanish regions are already paying attention to this. Recently, the Parliament of the Balearic Islands appealed to the central government of the country with a request to support the ban on the purchase of housing in the archipelago for foreigners. We are talking, among other things, about buyers from other countries of the European Union.
The latter is the subject of great contradictions between the state and the private sector. The first point to a catastrophic situation with access to housing for the Spanish population. The latter do not want to lose profits and support their criticism by pointing to EU legislation, according to which such bans are illegal.
Let's turn to the numbers. Thus, about 34% of all housing sales in the Balearic Islands are accounted for by foreigners. In the Canary Islands, this is 28%. In the community of Valencia — 27%. Alicante is the most striking, where foreigners account for 41.7% of residential real estate sales, according to the Association of Real Estate Inspectors of Spain.
The Association in its report on the IV quarter of 2022 indicates that in the 2014-22 growth cycle, which the market is completing today, the share of foreign demand for housing reached high values — usually exceeding 12%, but still not growing much more than this value. However, over the past six quarters, the volume of purchases from foreigners has begun to grow actively, reaching today's records.
According to the National Institute of Statistics of Spain (INE), real estate sales in 2022 reached 649,500 units. This is 14% more than in 2021 and a level that the country has not seen since 2007. Of this number, 89,375 were bought by foreigners. That is, we are talking about a share of 14%. Such interest in the Spanish real estate market from foreigners has many reasons: infrastructure, healthcare, climate, culture, gastronomy and even, recently, remote work.
Another incentive was the approval in 2013 of the so-called "Golden Visa", which grants a residence permit to foreigners from non-EU countries. As one of the options for obtaining such a visa is the purchase of real estate for 500,000 euros.
Jesus Gil Marin, CEO of real estate company Gilmar, notes the special popularity of Spain among Spanish-American buyers from Venezuela, Mexico, Colombia and Peru. They often buy luxury homes for themselves and their families in large cities, as well as invest in important projects for the market.
Marin adds: "Their purchases affect the luxury market, in some areas they even set price records with their purchases. They also enjoy the benefits of the Schengen area, which allows them to move around Europe without restrictions".