Barcelona and Ibiza popular among Chinese buyers

News by Propertyshowrooms.com

Chinese buyers are increasingly setting their sights on Spanish properties in Barcelona and Ibiza, according to one estate agent. Lucas Fox explained to Property Wire that in 2012, 80 per cent of all real estate on their books was sold to non-Spanish clients and Asian investors were particularly looking to the capital of Catalonia and the popular party island. 

“Most Chinese investors want to buy a property in Barcelona because, not only are they getting a good investment, but there is now the opportunity to acquire Spanish residency at the same time. What’s more, the market is particularly attractive given the historic low price,” said SQFT director Han Bin, which is working in collaboration with Lucas Fox. 

The residency scheme, which is expected to become law in July, is designed to attract more non-European investors to the country. It gives automatic residency to buyers investing more than €500,000 (£423, 059) in property. For Chinese buyers looking for a foothold in Europe, this is expected to be seen as an attractive deal. In fact, a group of investors from China is due to arrive in Barcelona at the end of May to see a showcase of properties from Lucas Fox.

Jason Ham, Lucas Fox’s business development manager, told Property Wire: “We have seen Chinese investment in many corners of the world but this is the first time that we have seen interest in Ibiza. Thanks to the proposed changes in residency laws for property investors outside of the European Union, we expect to see increasingly more interest from the Asia-Pacific region as well as Russia and the United States.”

American interest in Spain is certainly increasing and figures from tourism research agency Frontur showed arrivals from the US increased by 35.7 per cent to almost 100,000 in March 2013 compared to 2012. While Americans have being choosing Spain as their destination of choice for decades, in March they had the highest growth rate of any region. International Property and Real Estate News from Propertyshowrooms.com