IT SEEMS THAT NOTHING can stop the meteoric recovery of the Spanish property market with new records being set for the sheer number of international real estate sales transactions this year.

Brexit, a worldwide health pandemic, armed conflict in Europe, and a global energy crisis have all failed to subdue demand for property in Spain, with record sales at levels unseen for more than a decade.

Just last Thursday, property portal Idealista revealed that between January and June of this year, a total of 328,208 home sales were recorded across the country - the highest number of nationwide property sales since 2008.

163,909 sales were registered in the second quarter of this year alone, representing the second best quarterly result since the beginning of 2008, just behind 164,299 in the first quarter of 2022, according to the Real Estate Registry Statistics of the College of Property Registrars (Colegio de Registradores de la Propiedad).

International buyers buy more properties in Spain than ever before

And international buyers are buying properties in record numbers. Since the third quarter of 2021, the purchase of houses by international home buyers has returned to pre-pandemic levels, and transactions have not fallen below 16,000 sales per quarter in the subsequent four quarters.

But the latest available data shows that in the first two quarters of 2022, sales to international buyers have exceeded 20,000 property transactions per quarter, a marked increase over previous historical sales figures.

Between January and March, 21,638 residential properties were purchased by non-Spaniards, with a further 24,029 home sales recorded during the second quarter of 2022, between April and June.

"Without a doubt, this is a segment with a significant upward trend, which is helping to achieve especially relevant figures in the residential real estate industry", the registrars point out in their report.

Costa Blanca property market remains strong during 2022

For comparison, sales to international buyers in 2018 averaged 16,380 sales per quarter. In terms of property sales to non-domestic purchasers, the latest sales data far exceeds what was Spain's most successful pre-pandemic year.

Despite the United Kingdom's exit from the European Union, British buyers still purchased more properties in Spain than any other nationality. While fewer properties have been sold to UK buyers overall, buyers from Germany and France have purchased more homes than ever before - narrowing the traditional British dominance of the total sales table.

The nationalities that bought the most houses in Spain during Q2 2022 were British (9.8%, 2,310), followed by Germans (9.1%, 2,140), French (6.6%, 1,560), Moroccans (4.9%, 1,160), Belgians (4.9%, 1,155), Romanians (4.8%, 1,150), Dutch (4.8%, 1,130) and Italians (4.6%, 1,080).

Alicante, Malaga and both Spanish archipelagos remain popular with international buyers, attracted by the favourable year-round climate, affordable and convenient air connectivity throughout Europe, and a relatively low cost of living.

International property buyers purchase 90 homes a day in the Alicante Province

Alicante's popular Costa Blanca continues to lead the market (42.2%), accompanied by the Canary Islands (38.3%), the Balearic Islands (34.6%), and Málaga (32.8%).

Just this past Friday, Alicante news outlet "Informaciòn" reported a new local record, with an average of 90 homes sold to international property buyers each day in the province during the first half of 2022. Each buyer spent an average of €177,886 to acquire their home on the Costa Blanca.

Non-Spaniards spent 2.77 billion Euros on 15,930 properties between the beginning of the year and the end of June, with the publisher noting that the Alicante real estate market has never registered so many international sales transactions.

"The demand built-up during the pandemic, the economic reactivation, and the fear of interest rate increases notably accelerated the volume of transactions in the months leading up to the summer."

"The decision of many Central European citizens to seek a second residence in which to take refuge from the consequences of war, and north European's hoping to escape possible energy restrictions over the coming winter, have also helped the Alicante real estate sector achieve record-breaking results" they reported.

Costa Blanca house prices continue to rise in 2022

The latest official government data from the INE (Instituto Nacional de Estadística) shows that Spanish house prices continue to rise during 2022.

The average price of a property in the Valencian Community increased by 2.2% over the past 3 months, with neighbouring Murcia recording a 2.4% rise in house prices against a national average quarterly increase of 1.9% throughout the Spanish territory.

According to real estate valuation leaders, TINSA, year-on-year property prices increased by 6.8% along Spain's Mediterranean coast, with prices remaining robust over the summer - a notably slow time for the real estate sector.

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