PROFILED: Property buyers in Spain

Statistics on the housing sector are out and the results have shed a light on the property ladder in Spain. In the last year, the purchase of a house as an investment represents 10 per cent of the total sales transactions in the country.

Another 10 per cent of transactions correspond to houses bought as a second residence. And far from these percentages is the purchase of houses meant to serve as the main domicile for a family, which in 2019 is a 78 per cent of all sales.

This is how the analysis carried out by Fotocasa real estate portal describes the housing market in Spain. The aim of the study is to examine the profile of the Spaniard that buys property as an investment and figure the reasons behind them acquiring this type of asset.

The data shows that 70 per cent of Spaniards who bought as an investment in the last year, do so with the intention of renting the space on a long-term basis. The main reason is the high profitability that renting offers at the moment, with a lot of money to be made by putting a house or apartment on the renting market. Property owners admit that renting gives fantastic returns that no other financial product is currently able to offer.

In addition to long-term renting, 15 per cent of people have bought with the intention of renting for short holiday stays and another 15 per cent do not intend to rent at all. A lot of Spanish people are very concerned for the risk of non-payment or squatters that can sometimes happen with renting.

Of these investment properties, 82 per cent of them were second-hand houses and only 18 per cent were new builds. In addition, buyers would generally purchase close to where they lived, either in the same neighbourhood or in a different area.

As for the profile of people buying a second investment home, 59 per cent were men who are active in the real estate market. The men averaged at 45 years of age with a very high average income of €5,000 to €8,000 and in 50 per cent of cases they lived with their partners and children.

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