Foreign buyers purchase record number of Spanish properties in first half of 2022

The number of Spanish property sales involving a foreign buyer in the first half of 2022 hit an all-time high as foreigner investors gave Spain a big vote of confidence with their money.

There were 72,987 Spanish home sales involving a foreign buyer in the first half of the year, up 53% compared to the same period last year, according to the latest data published by the Spanish notaries’ association (The College of Spanish Notaries).

That is the highest level of foreign investment in Spanish property on record, at least since the notaries started publishing such figures going back to 2007.

As you can see from the chart above, foreign demand was more or less stable, even shrinking slightly in some periods between 2017 and 2019, before plunging in the first half of 2020 with the coronavirus pandemic and associated travel restrictions. However, in the second half of 2021 and first half of this year foreign demand for Spanish property has exploded.

As a result of foreign demand growing faster than local demand, which grew 9% in the period, the market share of foreign buyers rose to an all-time high of 20.3%, equalling the share achieved in the second half of 2015.

Source: Spanish Property Insight, October 2022