Eager British expats fuel property boom in Barcelona and Madrid

Barcelona and Madrid are at the centre of an expat boom as wealthy foreigners buy expensive homes in Spain because they are attracted by the lifestyle, or for some a desire to escape Brexit Britain.

About 80,000 foreign residents from countries with a GDP higher than Spain are now living in Barcelona, while 68,000 expats live in the Spanish capital, the Spanish National Statistics Institute (INE) found.

Francisco Nathurmal, founder of BCN Advisors, which sells high-end properties in Barcelona, said Britons were the second-largest group of foreign buyers after Americans.

“About 80 per cent of our clients are foreign, while 20 per cent are local. Of the foreigners, 45 per cent are Americans, Britons make up about 12 per cent, followed by the French with about 10 per cent, and then Asia and Latin America,” he told i. “The average property which Britons are buying costs €800,000 to €1m (£685-850,000).”

The number of expats moving to Barcelona has quadrupled in the past 30 years, according to INE data from 2021, while foreign residents have has more than doubled in Madrid.

In 2022, 292,171 Britons were registered as resident in Spain – a rise of more than 10,000 from 2021. The number of Britons registered with authorities in Catalonia was 22,000 in 2022.

Anya van der Drift, 49, a British businesswoman who runs My Barcelona School, which helps families find schools for their children, moved from London 12 years ago.

“I have noticed how many foreigners are coming to the city in recent years. There are so many families moving here,” she told i. “They come because of the lifestyle, the weather, remote working. Some come because of Brexit or because of the gun culture in the US. Some come because they can.”

Many buy expensive homes, according to estate agent Engel & Volkers. In Barcelona, foreigners spend on average €653,000 (£557,00), £5,000 more than Spaniards. In Madrid, foreigners spend on average €1m (£850,000), compared with €988,000 (£843,000) for Spaniards.

The Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, has vowed to ban golden visas for foreigners, but experts say this will only have a small influence on the domestic property market.