2008 saw a 59% drop in house sales in Spain to foreigners

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2008 saw a 59% drop in house sales in Spain to foreigners

There were only 3,691 sales to foreigners in 2008 as reported by the Spanish Ministry of Housing.

This compares to 17,212 second homes sold to foreigners in 2006.  So, overall sales are down 79% comparing the two years of 2006 and 2008, so no wonder hoards of estate agents have gone out of business. It was reported last year that 20,000 estate agents went out of business in the Valencia Community, which was reportedly 50%.  We didn't know that there were that many!

The 2008 picture was as follows (Sales to Foreigners): -

• Andalucia 1,415 sales - down by 52% in one year and an 78% drop over two years.
• Valencia     778 sales - down by 58% in one year and an 83% drop over two years.
• Murcia was the worse hit with a fall of 86% in the last year to only 270 homes
• The Canaries fell by 39% to 475
• The Balearics fell by 51% to 221
• Catalunia (Costa Brava & Coosta Dorada) fell by 49% to only 193

Construction Work on New Houses at an all time low.

The Valencia Life Network reported today that the Valencian Federation of Construction Companies has revealed that new home construction in the Valencian autonomy for the first quarter of this year dropped by 54% when compared to the same period of 2008. This drop is also in relation to the land available for building in the Valencian Community that has fallen by 64% in the same period, from 602,000 square metres last year to the current 213,000.

Equally and somewhat obviously, the amount of cement used has also dropped from sixteen thousand tons in a quarter to nine thousand. As far as the stock in unsold new homes is concerned it is believed that there are between 80,000 and 120,000 in the Valencian Community and 800,000 for Spain as a whole

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