According to Germany's ambassador to Spain, Maria Margarete Gosse, 20,000 Germans are registered as residents in the Balearics, while there are around 40,000 - a figure the embassy can't exactly quantify - who are not registered and come to the islands for a few months a year.
The ambassador's figure of 20,000 is just over a thousand more than one quoted a year ago in the context of an article about an increasing number of German residents - up to 18,979. Always allowing for some possible rounding-up, the indication is that the German resident population is on the increase, the total nevertheless being way short of what it was in 2012 - 36,758.
The reason for the big fall in German residents was to do with the obligation to declare assets abroad and the huge fines for the failure to do so. This was introduced in 2012. More recently, it was said a year ago that changes to the wealth tax in the Balearics brought in by the current government would contribute to increasing the number of Germans who establish their tax residence in Mallorca.
This may be the case, while there is no denying that the islands continue to be highly attractive to Germans seeking to purchase a place in the sun; Germany dominates the foreign property buying market.
But this purchasing doesn't disguise the fact that there are German citizens who find Mallorca too expensive and are leaving, and overwhelmingly it is Mallorca. German interest in the other islands, either for residential or tourist purposes, is dwarfed by that in Mallorca.
62-year-old Alexandra S. is one of those who is upping sticks. "After twelve years in Mallorca, I will be moving to the mainland in the autumn. Everything here is too expensive and there is hardly any affordable housing. Before Covid, things were going ok, but now it is becoming increasingly difficult to make a living." The Costa Blanca is her preferred alternative. "I no longer want to live on this posh island."
Retiree Erich Sterk, who lives in Peguera, has occasionally considered leaving the island. "Rent, shopping, everything has become very, very expensive. I know quite a few people who have returned to Germany. They are families with children. The parents both work, yet this is often not enough to pay the high rents. But as long as I can continue to pay the rent, I will definitely stay here. If things get tough, then I'll go to Andalusia."
Consultant Doris Kirch says: "Return emigration is usually quiet and silent because many people feel that they have failed. The number of unreported cases is certainly high." In her line of work and also privately she has encountered "tragic" situations: "Long-term residents whose rental contracts expire or who receive extreme rent increases and then can no longer find anything affordable."
Moritz Meckel runs a removals company that has been operating between Mallorca and Germany for 30 years. He believes that it is not that more and more Germans are leaving the island, but that the reasons have changed. "A common reason for our customers to return to Germany is the real estate market on the island. Due to the lack of affordable housing, many people no longer want to earn a living under these circumstances."
While many Germans continue to dream of a life on the island, there are fears about the future for those in Mallorca. Tina F. has been a resident for 15 years. "I am afraid that at some point we will not be able to afford to live here. Everyone in my circle of friends has the same concerns. I am also worried about the residents. We can always go back to Germany, but the Mallorcans are being driven out of their homeland."