Alex Trelinski
REAL estate agencies are reporting that foreign buyers are looking beyond traditionally strong property sales areas of Spain to purchase a home.
Rather than immediately opting for the Costa Blanca or the Costa del Sol, agents are noticing a trend to look at different parts of the country, especially the north.
Paloma Perez, Spain’s executive director of Sotheby’s International Realty, told the El Pais newspaper: “There is very much a rise in this type of buyer in northern areas.”
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Interest in expanding horizons appeared to start last summer according to a number of agencies.
American buyers appear to be on the rise in areas like Galicia and the Cantabrian Sea.
Rafael Rosendo from the Lucas Fox agency in Galicia confirmed the trend to El Pais: “Foreign interest has gone up since summer especially in properties over €1 million, and a high percentage of interest has come from people who have family links to Galicia.
“In July 2024 we sold the most expensive triplex in Vigo to a Galician who emigrated to the United States and last week, we sold a penthouse there to a Canadian who has his father here,” Rosendo added.
Another agent suggested that American buyers are on the rise because of the political situation back home following the return of Donald Trump to the White House.
Existing home owners of Latin American origin from the Madrid area are also buying a second property in the Pyrenees to enjoy some skiing.
The cooler climate in northern Spain during the blistering hot summer months is also attracting buyers to look elsewhere or even buy a second home.
Rosendo quoted an example of a German couple from Altea on the Costa Blanca who paid €1.8 million for a Galicia home ‘to escape the summer heat’.
CaixaBank Research says the biggest percentage increases in property sales by region last year was in Galicia (22.3%).
That was followed by La Rioja (20%), Castilla-La Mancha (19.4%), Asturias (18.6%), Cantabria (16.4%), Navarra (15%) and the Basque Country (13.8%).
The rises though are not just down to foreign buyers but a change in the domestic market.
Jose Andres from the San Fernando Real Estate Group told El Pais: “In Cantabria we don’t see much of a rise in foreign interest but are getting a large increase in domestic purchasers who are moving due to climate change.”
