The crisis is multiplying the load of the properties for sale by four

• The amount of properties purchased by companies now represents 21.93% of all transactions compared to 5.1% in 2008 
• Purchases made by foreigners ranging from a total of 30.7% in the Balearic Islands and 0,38% in Extremadura 
• The average time that a property is owned is increasing to 9 years and 10 months forfeiting its purpose as an investment benefit

28.04.14 - Purchases made by companies accounted for 21.93% of all transactions completed in 2013, representing an increase of 429% compared to 5.11% in 2007, this means before the crisis. By contrast, individuals were the protagonists of 94.89% of the purchases in 2007 compared to 78.07% in 2013.

The change of the buyer’s profile is one of the fluctuations analyzed in the yearly report 2013 issued by the Statistics of Registered Housing published today by the Association of Registrars and complete with a more detailed analysis, the information provided in the quarterly reports and in the advance presentation in February.

The cataloging of purchasers and their evolution is not the same throughout the country. For example, the Canaries, La Rioja and Catalonia are autonomous communities where companies play a greater role in property purchases, while Extremadura, Cantabria and the Basque Country are the areas where the role of the individual is higher.

Property purchases by foreign citizens

The important role foreign citizens play in the property market is indicated evidently in the various analysis done by statistical Housing Registry. Their property purchases accounted for the annual average of 11.15% of all registered transactions in 2013, compared to 4.45% in 2009, the lowest point.

In the autonomous communities, the participation of foreign citizens is higher in the Balearic Islands (30.73% of all property purchases are made by foreigners), followed by Valencia (24.83%) and the Canary Islands (24.60%). As a counterpoint, on the opposite side, Extremadura (0.38%), Galicia (0.60%) and Castilla y León (0.92%) are the regions with less presence of foreign transactions.