It appears that Russians are heading south in search of warmer climes, with the Spanish market benefitting more than most. While Bulgaria remains Russians’ overseas destination of choice, recent data from leading Russian property portal Idinaidi has shown that Spain is accounting for an increasing number of searches for property abroad.
Helped by the Iberian country’s ‘golden visa’ law, which grants a residency visa to any individual investing €500,000 or more in property located within Spanish territory, Spain is attracting a growing number of Russian second home buyers. Designed to attract affluent investors and revive the Spanish property market, the golden visa law has proven of keen interest to Russians. Though a residency visa is not the same as being granted permanent residency, it is certainly a significant step towards doing so.
The number of Russians holidaying in Spain has also been on the increase. The latest Spanish tourism figures released by Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy showed that Russian tourists now account for 2.6% of the total number of visitors to Spain. While it may not sound like a large proportion of the overall market, holidaymakers from Russia have increased in number faster than those from any other country, leaping 31.6% from the previous year’s figure.
According to the data, Spain’s most appealing destinations were Catalonia, which attracted 25.7% of foreign visitors, followed by the Balearic Islands such as Mallorca, which drew 18.3% of the total. Additionally, figures provided recently by the Euro Weekly News showed an increase from 2.5% to 8% in the number of Russians visiting the popular resort towns of Magaluf and Palmanova over the past five years, with over 300,000 Russian and Eastern European visitors in 2013 alone.
The number of Russians visiting Spain is expected to rise further in 2014, in light of positive predictions for the Spanish tourism sector as a whole. Santiago Martínez-Cava, director of airport operator AENA, has confirmed that he is expecting some 10 million passengers to travel through Alicante-Elche airport by the end of the year, as part of a welcome upturn for Spain’s visitor numbers. Routes to Spain also include direct flights from Moscow, Kazan and St Petersburg, into some of Spain’s best-located airports, such as Malaga, Barcelona, Madrid and Palma.
Many of those visiting will look to take advantage of the excellent value that Spanish real estate offers. Marc Pritchard, Sales and Marketing Director of leading Spanish homebuilder Taylor Wimpey España, explains,
“There is so much to love about Spain and many visitors find that simply holidaying here is not enough. They want to own their own piece of Spain by purchasing a property that they can visit time and again. With so many excellent value and high quality options on the market currently, it really is a great time for buyers of property across the country, particularly in the south and the Spanish islands like Mallorca.”
The latest data from Idinaidi, Russia’s fastest-growing property portal, demonstrates the increased Russian awareness of Spanish real estate. Spain was the most searched-for foreign country on the site during March, accounting for 24% of all overseas searches. The majority of Spanish searches were split fairly evening between apartments (46%) and houses (43%).
The most popular property of all during the month was an apartment building in the charming Mijas area of the Costa del Sol. The Costa Blanca was another popular location, while Mallorca and Barcelona saw the biggest increases in searches, with both areas resulting in search rises of more than 200%. Idinaidi COO Carlo Walther comments,
“Spain is understandably popular as a holiday and second home destination for many Russian buyers. Winters here are long and hard. Having a Mediterranean bolthole and being able to exchange snow for sun can make all the difference. Spain’s golden visa scheme also offers its own attractions to the Russian market as more and more buyers look for good value properties in the sun that have potential as retirement destinations in the future.”
For more information visit Idinaidi at www.idinaidi.ru.
