Foreign demand for home buying in the Balearics amounted to over 35% of all purchases. The annual report from the College of Registrars professional body highlights this percentage by comparison with a 13% level of foreign purchasing for Spain as a whole: it was the highest percentage in the country.
The total number of purchases was 10,626, of which more than 3,000 were made by foreign buyers. With regard to the so-called "gold visa" by which residency permits are granted to foreigners who spend 500,000 euros or more on real estate, the registrars say that these operations accounted for 5.2% of all purchases by non-Spaniard buyers. This was a similar level to 2014 and up from 4.7% in 2013.
Of these purchases, 62% were by citizens of the European Union, while 16% of the purchases of 500,000 euros or more were in the Balearics. By country market, 34% were German and just over 22% were British purchasers (who benefited from the strength of the pound). Activity among other nationalities equated to 5.8% Swedish, 5.6% Italian, 4.4% French, 3.6% Swiss and 1.9% Austrian.
By area, the bay of Palma was most in demand among the Swedish, while the British, Germans and Russians were more attracted by Alcudia, Calvia, Andratx, the Llevant eastern zone and by fincas in the Tramuntana mountains. One surprising statistic is that 1.4% of foreign investment was Chinese for the purchase of properties between 40 and 60 square metres.
The College says that lower prices since the onset of economic crisis have created a favourable situation for home buying and so an opportunity for foreign buyers. This can be seen from the figures for purchases by European and other buyers.
While new houses of more than 120 square metres have been selling well, despite their price, used properties accounted for 8,411 of the 10,626.