Foreign Buyers Still Boosting House Sales

The real estate sector is continuing to have a happy 2023, according to figures released this week, although figures for the second quarter indicate a slowdown.

According to the data from the Real Estate Registry Statistics provided published by the College of Registrars, in the province of Alicante a total of 25,601 homes have been sold during the first semester of 2023, which represents an increase of 6% compared to the first semester of last year, when a total of 24,192 homes were sold.

As has been said, a slight decline can be observed in the comparison between quarters: between April and June, home sales fell in the province by almost three points compared to the period between January and March. In any case, the drop is the weakest of the three Valencian provinces and remains below the state average, where the drop is five points, according to statistics.

With an evident prominence of used housing over new ones, in a relationship that has remained unchanged since the real estate recovery of 2014 began, Alicante is once again the third Spanish province in number of operations, behind Madrid and Barcelona, and once again, it is also the first province in terms of sales carried out by foreigners.

Nationally, the main foreign nationalities buying homes are led by the British (8.80%), then Germans (7.25%), French (6.56%), Moroccans (5.37%), Italians (5.22%), Romanians (5.15%), Belgians (5.09%) and Dutch (4.61%). Eleven autonomous communities have recorded quarterly increases in quarter 2 in terms of home purchases by foreigners. The greater weights have been reached in the Canary Islands (30.64%), Balearic Islands (30.38%), Valencian Community (29.91%), Region of Murcia (23.56%), Catalonia (15.35%) and Andalusia (14.19%).

The pull of international demand is, in fact, key for the real estate sector in Alicante to maintain its pulse: foreigners buy almost half of the homes sold in the province, with a share of 45% in the second quarter. Regarding the typology, 10,863 used (third province) and 1,759 new (fourth, almost tied with Malaga) were sold.

The annual data, from June 2022 to June 2023, is also positive: a total of 51,386 homes sold in the last twelve months, again the third best data in the country and with a growth of 16% over the same previous period. Specifically, 6,746 new homes (+15%) and 44,640 second-hand homes (+16%) were sold.

The statistics of the registrars also provide data on the price of housing in relation to the square metre. In this sense, the price of housing in the province of Alicante amounts to 1,633 euro per square metre, which places it in the upper part of the intermediate range, far from the 3,423 euro in Guipúzcoa. The value increases 1.6% over the previous quarter, 6.1% in the case of new housing (2,181 euro) and barely 0.5% in used housing (1,541 euro).