Figures from Spain's property registrars indicate that 37.9% of home purchases in the Balearics between January and September last year were made without mortgages; they were cash payments.
The national average for this type of transaction was 30.5%, a figure that was as high as this because of purchases in three regions. In Valencia, 47.6% were cash transactions; in the Canaries, 50%. By way of contrast, only 0.6% of purchases in Madrid didn't require a mortgage; in Catalonia, 22.1%.
Over the first nine months of 2022 there were 18,443 purchases in the Balearics; 7,427 didn't need a mortgage. A high number of these purchases were by residents, although the majority of buyers were foreign.
As recently reported, paying cash for a property can be a trigger for investigation of possible money laundering. From January 1 to October 15 last year there were 1,227 alerts raised by the registrars association in the Balearics. Following analysis, most of these cash transactions are found to be perfectly above board.
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Morgan WilliamsThank you for the clarification. But perhaps we should stick to English as the MDB is meant for English speakers. I comment in Spanish in Última Hora. I know of course that banks won’t accept wads of notes, hence my sarcasm, but I didn’t realise that ‘cash’ was as versatile as ‘efectivo’. Now I know!
SaraNo, no te equivocas. El idioma inglés es a menudo muy general e inespecífico. "efectivo" generalmente se refiere a fondos *disponibles*, ya sea en un banco o en billetes, porque prácticamente es lo mismo. Y además, no creo que sea posible *legalmente* comprar una propiedad en España con "efectivo" (sin transferencia bancaria), porque los bancos están obligados a verificar el origen de los fondos, lo que obviamente no se puede hacer con una bolsa. de billetes
Morgan WilliamsI was being sarcastic about the use of the term “cash payment” as I understood that to mean banknotes, the correct term being payment in full or similar. But I’m Spanish so correct me if I’m wrong.
SaraI expect it means the full payment ie no mortgage .i
SaraIt states specifically they didn't take out a mortgage to pay for it. Which incidentally isn't all that surprising, as most purchasers are simply turning over funds from the sale of another property to buy this one. Besides, have you applied for a mortgage lately? For many banks, to get any kind of reasonable rate, you need as much as half of the purchase price in cash to even qualify for the mortgage.
Do you mean cash as in banknotes (in a bulging briefcase?) 😳 or simply a cheque payment for the full amount?