Spain reclaims top spot as world’s most sought-after property destination

There are many different polls and surveys that claim to accurately rank which property market is the most buoyant globally. But the task of comparing foreign demand for property in a certain country has often been little more than an educated guessing game…

For example, Brits opt for Spain over and above all other countries when buying abroad. But, American buyers, for example, will tend to look closer to home at Mexico for their summer sun bolthole. This is just two groups of buyers – and the world is a far bigger place, of course.

However, a relatively recent ranking by TheMoveChannel.com has brought some semblance of structure and accuracy to this ranking game. The portal is the world’s largest site for viewing property, and its Top of the Props index is becoming a trusted source among analysts and economists.

Which is why in February the news that Spain had been knocked off its perch by the USA made headlines. Claiming 14.02% of all global enquiries, “Property in the USA” was hot stuff earlier this year.

However, according to the April index, Spain is back on top, with Spanish property accounting for one in ten of all enquiries punched into the search portal for the months of March and April. Equally impressive was the fact that a location in Spain accounted for 31 of the top 50 locations searched for on the website.

This is a relatively unsurprising revelation, given that the Spanish property market typically begins to heat up as Spring approaches. And foreign buyers have long had an affinity with homes in Spain – a love affair that is continuing in 2017 if data from the Spanish Registrars’ latest annual report is to be believed.

The report, also published last week, shows that 13.25% of all Spanish properties sold in the first quarter of 2017 were bought by foreigners.

Spain’s enduring attraction as a favoured overseas property destination has surprised very few people who work in the market. Indeed, the very fact that Brexit has so far appeared to have had a minimal impact on British demand is also being treated as a “told you so” moment by those who were confident in Spain’s appeal to British buyers.

“Even with the more expensive buying costs for Brits brought about by Brexit, Spanish property’s affordability is at its most appealing right now in 2017, as bottomed-out prices mean that capital growth is possible for investors,” said TheMoveChannel.com CEO Dan Johnson.

However, prices in Spain have been rising for the past few months, with experts predicting a further 2.5 to 6% price increase this year.