Four key facts about British property buyers in Spain

Spain faces a dilemma when it comes to its popularity among foreigners.

For decades, they've boosted the Spanish service-based economy as tourists, second home owners and new residents from overseas spent big.

But spiralling rents and property prices in recent years have led many Spaniards to consider whether they've become second-class citizens in their own country, outpriced by outsiders with more purchasing power.

The Spanish government has been trying to address the current housing crisis with measures such as scrapping the golden visa residency scheme for wealthy foreigners and proposing a possible 100 percent tax on non-resident non-EU buyers, or banning them from buying altogether if they have no links to Spain.

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Although such measures and proposals aren't aimed at British buyers alone, that's how it's been portrayed in the UK media, interpreted almost as a way of Spain spiting them. The Telegraph for example ran with the headline "How Spain punished British homeowners – and will pay the price".

It is of course true that UK nationals are no longer EU citizens since Brexit, and aside from the roughly 400,000 who are legally resident in the country, there is an undisclosed but likely very high number of non-resident Brits who own second homes here, and no doubt many more who dream of owning a holiday home in the Spanish sun.

So let’s look at the stats of British buyers and see how they compare to buyers of other nationalities.

UK buyers have been the main foreign property buyers in Spain for years

Brits have been the top non-Spanish homebuyers in Spain since at least 2015, with the only exception being Q3 2021 when they were surpassed slightly by German property purchasers.

And recent data from Spain's Notary Association showed that UK nationals continue to buy more homes in Spain than any other nationality, showcasing that the drawbacks Brexit have brought non-residents (namely the 90-day rule) still hasn't dissuaded Brits from buying second homes in Spain.

In the second half of 2024 UK nationals purchased 6,048 properties in Spain, 8.7 percent of the foreign total, despite a small 1.7 percent drop in sales compared with the first half of 2024.

Brits were followed by Moroccan buyers (7.3 percent, with 5,060 sales) and Germans (6.7 percent, with 4,650 units). Romanians and Italians also had over 4,000 transactions.

READ ALSO: Which foreigners are buying the most properties in Spain?

Resident and non-resident British buyers favour the south of Spain and the islands

Brits looking for second homes in Spain prefer the southern, traditionally sunnier and hotter areas of the country, which also tend to be the most popular areas with British holidaymakers.

For example, in Q3 and Q4, they made up 31 percent of non-resident foreign buyers in the region of Murcia and 18 percent of foreign buyers in Andalusia. They also account for 11 percent of foreign buyers in the Canary Islands and nine percent in the Balearics.

But those who officially reside in Spain also tend to buy in these areas: 11 percent of the foreign total in Murcia and the Balearics, and 13 percent in Andalusia.

Non-resident Brits pay more for homes than Brits living in Spain

According to the stats from Spain's Notary Association for the second half of 2024, non-resident Brits spent an average of €2,719 /m2.

This is in fact below the average amount paid by non-residents from all foreign nations, as this now exceeds €3,000/m2, with US nationals leading the way.

However, the €2,719 /m2 figure is still far higher than what UK nationals who reside in Spain pay on average, €1,933/m2.

Brits with TIEs and green residency certificates are still paying is 7.6 percent more for Spanish homes than in 2023, but that's the same for everyone really.

For comparison's sake, the average paid for properties for the second half of 2024 was 1.753 €/m2 (all buyers), and the foreigners who paid the least amount for properties were the Moroccans at just €703 /m2 and then the Romanians at €1,224 /m2.

Non-resident British buyers now outnumber resident British buyers

UK nationals living in Spain bought a total of 2,367 properties in the second half of 2024. They were therefore fifth main group of foreign resident buyers after Moroccans, Romanians, the Italians and the Chinese.

This showcases the weight of non-resident British buyers currently, as for UK nationals to lead the foreign property purchasing tables overall, the number has to be sizable. To be precise, 3,681 Brits bought homes in Spain in the second half of 2024.

It makes sense that non-resident British buyers now outnumber resident British buyers due to the fact that UK nationals need to apply for a visa to reside in Spain post-Brexit.

But this also serves to show that if a supertax or complete ban on non-EU non-resident buyers were to be introduced by Pedro Sánchez's government, it would be particularly damaging for the British buyer.

READ ALSO: Are non-EU property buyers really to blame for Spain's housing crisis?