Property

Balearics leading the way for foreign property investment

A luxury property in Palma valued at almost four million euros. | Archive

Majorca Daily Bulletin reporterPalma19/04/2017 00:00

According to the Institute of Registrars and the office for the secretary-of-state for commerce, the Balearics led the way in 2016 for foreign real-estate investment, mainly luxury homes and tourist establishments. This national leadership was in percentage terms as opposed to having been absolute and rose by 30% over 2015.

The majority of sales, says the institute, were in the final four months of the year. German, Swiss and French purchasers were not dissuaded by high prices in the luxury sector of the market. The overseas interest has in fact contributed to price rises. It adds that there were 13,811 sales in the Balearics last year. Of these, 2,724 were for new and luxury properties.

The figures from the government show that growth in foreign investment is spread among various nationalities - German, Swiss, Belgian, French, Danish, Norwegian and Swedish. Swiss investment was the highest of all - more than 31 million euros.

With the UK market, there was a fall in investment after the Brexit referendum. For the the period from January to September, UK investment was above 20 million. But in the second half of the year specifically, it was down to six million. UK investment is expected to continue to fall in 2017.

Much of the money coming into Majorca and the Balearics was via tax havens - 25 million euros all told. Between them, the Cayman Islands, Panama and Gibraltar accounted for almost 14 million euros, while Luxembourg contributed nearly ten million.