A quarter of houses for sale in the Alicante province are bought by expatriates, a recent report claims. Almost 19,000 homes were purchased in the province in 2006 by foreign residents, which represents 18 per cent of the national total.
Research by the faculty of estate agency at the university of Alicante, using Ministry of Housing statistics, shows that 25 per cent of last year’s 72,900 property sales involved expatriate buyers who live permanently in the province.
Paloma Taltavull, faculty head, says slightly more foreigners in Alicante bought second-hand property (10,630) than new builds (8,186). Taltavull explains this is because older properties are cheaper, but also much larger.
In the case of immigrants from developing countries, it is not unusual to see sizeable families or large groups of compatriots sharing a property. Many live and work in Spain in order to send money home to their families in their countries of origin, meaning sharing the cost of buying a property leaves them with a greater disposable income.
Northern Europeans also prefer bigger homes to accommodate friends and family members visiting them in Spain, says Taltavull.
The number of homes bought by expatriates in the province of Alicante now exceeds that of non-resident foreigners seeking a second residence. The latter fell gradually throughout the course of 2006, reaching an all-time low of 4,200, which translates to a drop from 30 per cent to 19 per cent.
The importance of the expat buyer is not underestimated in the property market. The property promoters’ association of the Alicante province reveals that 50.72 per cent of foreigners living in the Comunitat Valenciana own their home, albeit with a mortgage. In Spain as a whole, the average for foreigners owning their own home is 37 per cent.
By: Samantha Kett, thinkSPAINtoday
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