On the 31 December the new Spanish government announced that they would continue in to 2012 with the lower rate of 4% purchase tax (usually 8%) for new Spanish properties.
The lower rate will be available to anyone who purchases and completes on a new build property in 2012. This is very good news indeed for anyone considering buying a home in Spain who missed the window of opportunity last year.
The news also comes on the back of some strong data from the Ministry of Public Transactions, which recorded a 24.7% increase in the number of overseas buyers purchasing a property in Spain the 3rd quarter of 2011.
While figures for the final quarter of 2011 are yet to be published, it is expected that they will show an even bigger increase in overseas buyers returning to Spain and that the lower rate of purchase tax was instrumental in the late surge of buyers completing before the then deadline of 31 December.
While all coastal regions saw an increase, the Valencian region (Costa Blanca) was the biggest winner.
Isabel Bonig, the Valencian minister responsible for housing added that ’30% of all sales to foreigners in Spain are in Valencia (Costa Blanca). Alicante is the most popular area with foreign buyers, accounting for 85% of sales.’
Many of the established builders in the area also reported a rapidly growing interest and better than expected results for 2011.
Marc Pritchard, Sales & Marketing Director for Taylor Wimpey Espana explained “The increase in property sales to foreigners in the last quarter of 2011 shows that many have been discerning enough to strike while the iron is hot and purchase properties that are well priced and in excellent locations,”
In particular we are seeing the majority of buyers coming from the Scandinavian countries, Holland and Belgium. The UK market began to see a marked increase in the second half of 2011 and providing the Pound can retain or improve it’s position versus the Euro we expect this trend to continue in to 2012.
