Property buyers in Spain prefer the Regions of Murcia and Valencia

According to figures released this week by the Spanish Housing Ministery, Murcia and Valencia have overtaken the Costa del Sol to become the most popular areas among non-Spanish property buyers.

In the second quarter of 2006, 11.7 percent of all property purchases corresponded to foreign residents in Spain, and 2 percent to non-residents. However the regional breakdown calculated by the Housing Ministry reflects the popularity of the Murcian and Valencian regions where almost 20 percent of all property purchases were carried out by non-Spanish residents (19.5 in Murcia and 19.2 in Valencia including the provinces of Alicante and Castellón). Alicante, where 25 percent property sales went to foreign residents, was the most popular province.

Ranking of the most popular areas in Spain

According to the figures published by the Housing Ministery, the ranking of the most popular regions among foreign property buyers in Spain is as follows:

• Murcia (19,5%)
• Region of Valencia (12,2%)
• Balearic Islands (15,9%)
• Madrid (14,4%)
• Canary Islands (13,7%)
• Catalonia (13,4%)
• La Rioja (11,3%)

The overall classification of property purchases per region, including Spanish property buyers is the following:

• Valencia: 7.470
• Catalonia: 5.768
• Madrid 3.834
• Murcia 2.108
• Canary Islands: 1.535
• Balearic Islands: 1.030