Costa Blanca leads the way in foreign house sales

THE Costa Blanca is leading the way in foreign housing investment in Spain.

Alicante has established itself in the first half of the year as the Spanish province with the highest attractiveness amongst Europeans who want to buy a home outside of their home countries absorbing almost 40 per cent of sales with a total of 4,267 purchases made, almost twice that of Malaga on the Costa del Sol.

However, according to figures from the National Institute of Statistics,these new home buyers are not residing in the area with many using their home for just 60 days a year, generating revenues of €8,380, almost three times less than the average of what European permanent residents spend during the course of the year. The report said: “The limited use of housing by foreigners for holidays shows that there is potential revenue that is being lost.” There is some concern that this under-utilisation of housing by foreigners is causing deterioration of urban areas.

The data showed that concerning sale times, it took between 10 months and two-and-a-half years to sell a property but experts say that has now started to change thanks to foreign investment.