MADRID — Barcelona and Madrid are at the center of an expat boom, with wealthy foreigners buying expensive homes in Spain because they are attracted by the lifestyle or eager to escape Brexit or America’s gun culture, experts say.
INE found that around 80,000 foreign residents from countries with a higher GDP than Spain currently live in Barcelona, while around 68,000 foreigners live in the Spanish capital.
Francisco Nathurmal, founder of BCN Advisors, a real estate company that sells high-end properties in Barcelona, said Britons are the second largest group of foreign buyers after Americans.
“About 80% of our customers are foreign and 20% are local. Among foreigners, 45% are Americans, followed by British about 12%, followed by French at about 10%, and then those from Asia and Latin American buyers,” he told us. I.
“The average price of a property purchased in the UK is between €800,000 and €1 million.”
The number of expats moving to Barcelona has quadrupled in the past 30 years, while the number of foreign residents in Madrid has more than doubled during the same period, according to 2021 figures from the Spanish National Statistics Institute (INE).
According to INE, 292,171 Britons were registered as residents in Spain in 2022, an increase of more than 10,000 from 2021, when 282,124 UK residents were registered. In 2022, the number of Britons registered with Catalan authorities in the capital Barcelona was 22,000.
Anya Van Der Drift, 49, a British businesswoman who moved from London to the Catalan capital 12 years ago where she runs My Barcelona Schools”, helping families find the right school for their children.
“I’ve noticed how many foreigners have come to the city in recent years. There are a lot of families moving here,” she told I.
“They come because of the lifestyle, the weather, remote working. Some come because of Brexit or the gun culture in the U.S. Some come because they can.”
According to real estate agent Engel & Volkers, which specializes in high-end properties, many people buy expensive homes.
In Barcelona, foreigners spend an average of €653,000 (£557,00), while Spaniards buy homes for an average of €612,000 (£552,000). In Madrid, foreigners spend an average of €1 million (£850,000), while Spaniards spend €988,000 (£843,000).
Last year, one in two of the company’s clients who bought properties were foreigners. The Chinese topped the list of buyers, followed by Venezuelans, French, Russians, Egyptians and Americans.
Guifré Homedes, director of Barcelona real estate agency Amat Immobiliaris, said the company operates in wealthy areas and 40% of its clients are foreigners.
According to Judit Montoriol, a researcher at Caixa Bank Research, expatriates can be defined as foreigners who immigrate out of choice rather than necessity.
“They immigrate in search of experience. They are attracted by everything Spain has to offer: quality of life, good climate, culture, gastronomy,” she told us vanguard newspaper.
“I think, especially for the upper and middle classes in Latin America, issues like safety or access to quality health care and education are also important.”
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said last week that golden visas would be banned for foreigners to ease pressure on the property market, but experts say foreigners will have only a minimal impact on the domestic property market.
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