Signs that Foreign Interest May be Key to Restarting European Housing Markets

According to data released by Spanish portal giant idealista today, the demand for properties on their portal, although down overall, increased among users from outside Spain during the first month of lockdown (15th March to 15th April). Idealista claims that interest from abroad now makes up around 15% of all demand on the portal.

Unsurprisingly a lot of the interest centres on the coastal regions and comes from the UK, Germany, France and other countries associated with holiday home purchases in Spain. There is also an increase in demand from countries whose population is more likely to move to Spain for work such as Romania and Morocco.

In related news, a report by Property Investor Today claims that the demand for UK property from Chinese nationals has never been higher despite the country being in lockdown.

Favourable exchange rates, friendly policies such as the extension of student visas and the falling demand for property in the USA are all cited as reasons for the uptick in interest from China. 

With China being the first country to come out of lockdown and with its property buying classes increasingly having access to European markets through platforms such as Juwai, it could well be that recovery for high-end European sales markets comes from the East.

Catch our interview with Juwai IQI Executive Chairman Georg Chmiel from our vodcast series here.