BRITONS are still buying in Spain in large numbers.
According to the latest statistics, British buyers accounted for 58 per cent of all European purchases of property in Spain last year.
Contrary to belief that the British market has collapsed, it has in fact only dropped by five per cent since its peak in 2006.
Previous studies had suggested the figure could be closer to 30 per cent, with Germans and Irish buyers playing a larger role.
But the official government figures, released this week, put an end to that.
According to the data, German buyers accounted for only 7.7 per cent of the European market, followed by Irish buyers at 7.5 percent and the French with 6.1 per cent.
Russians were one of the few nationalities that actually bought more property in 2008 than 2007, accounting for 6.4 per cent of the 19,924 registered sales to Europeans.
British buyers dropped from 63 per cent in 2006 to the 57.6 per cent in 2008.
Now, what would be nice to know is how many of those brits brought off-plan and then sold to other brits before completion, who then also re-sold before completion.
No-one would argue that the brits were the largest group of foreign purchasers, but how many were property speculators?