The international investor returns to Barcelona and buys 33% of the homes in the upper area

International investors returned strongly to Barcelona last year, after the worst of the pandemic, and bought a third of the homes in the most affluent areas of the city, according to data from the real estate company Engel & Volkers. Resident foreigners, on the other hand, were the absolute protagonists of the rental market of high-income flats, and accounted for 65% of the rents of homes of more than 1,700 euros.

According to the data of the real estate company, the most active buyers have been the French and Italians, who are preferably looking for 90 m² apartments with two bedrooms in Ciutat Vella, Eixample, Gràcia, Horta-Guinardó, Les Corts, Sant Martí and Sarrià-Sant Gervasi, a preferred location for Italians.

French and Italian

The most sought-after areas are Ciutat Vella, Eixample and Sarrià-Sant Gervasi

According to the 2021-22 Market Report presented today by Juan-Galo Macià, CEO of Engel & Volkers for Spain, Portugal and Andorra, international demand has led to a 50% increase in the group's sales in the city, which has been absorbed without prices rising, largely due to an increase in the supply of flats from inheritances.

Thus, the average price of real estate sales in the city has been 4,506 euros / m², with an increase of 0.1% compared to 2020, and 2.4% compared to 2019, the last pre-pandemic year. In Sant Martí and Horta-Guinardó, less stressed areas, prices have risen, around 8%.

Most of the homes, says the real estate, were bought to use as a habitual residence (81%), compared to 11% that has been acquired as a second residence and 8% for investment.

The firm highlights the turn of demand towards municipalities in the metropolitan area of Barcelona, due to the search for homes with more large spaces and open to the outside, which has caused price increases in the Vallès, especially in Sant Cugat and Sabadell, of 2.5% and 10% respectively.

Stable prices

Although sales rise, the greater supply of homes from inheritances stabilized prices

The demand for high-end housing for new construction has skyrocketed prices, the report says, with increases of 13% last year in the works in the city and 12% in the surroundings. Here, too, the presence of foreigners has risen: they bought 24% more new flats than in 2020, led by Americans and Germans, although the buyers who rose the most were those from the Netherlands. International clients are looking for homes of about 150 m² with three bedrooms and two bathrooms.

But it is in the rental market where the presence of foreigners is overwhelming, concentrating 65% of the rental operations managed by Engel & Völkers. Italians have been the most active in the capital, accounting for 8.2% of international rents, and has highlighted the increase in Americans. In the periphery, the most active tenants have been, French in search of single-family houses of about 200 m², together with families from the Netherlands.