Do you have a spare £130,000 and a desire to live in the Spanish sunshine? If so, you will be pleased to hear that Spain plans to offer residency permits to those who buy a house worth more than €160,000.
Article written by The Overseas Guides Company
The plan, which is specifically targeted at the Russian and Chinese markets, was announced by Jaime Garcia-Legaz, Secretary of State for Trade, who declared that the measure was being introduced in order to ply some much needed funds into the stagnant market.
Under the scheme, if foreigners invest in property and receive residency, they will be able to move freely around the 25-nation Schengen zone. This agreement, signed in Luxembourg in 1985, allows residents of the nations who signed it to travel to – though not work in – any other.
There is fear that the decision may result in backlash from other European countries if the move is seen to pave the way for those foreigners who invest in property to become eligible for Spanish passports, thus affording them the right to live and work in all 27 of the EU Member States.
Although no finer details have been confirmed, this new measure is expected to be very similar to agreements of this nature that were established earlier on in 2012. We saw residency permits issued in return for property investments of €500,000 (approx. £410,000) in Ireland and €400,000 (£327,000) in Portugal.
Hungary was the latest EU nation to jump on the bandwagon when it announced that residency permits would be handed out in exchange for investment of at least €250,000 (approx. £201,000) in special issue bonds.
The fact that Spain is offering the permits in exchange for such a low amount of investment demonstrates their keen desire to attract foreign investment from China and Russia as northern European interest in the country wains.
At the height of the property boom back in 2007, buyers from Britain accounted for 17 per cent of house sales to foreign purchasers. This year, this percentage has dropped to just 13 per cent.
During the same period the number of Russian buyers flew from 1 per cent of the foreign market share to 8 per cent and Chinese interest soared from 1 per cent to 4 cent.
For details of property for sale in Spain, visit the listings on Rightmove Overseas. One way to save money when buying in Spain is to use a currency specialist when transferring your pounds into euros or dollars to complete the purchase of your property. For more information on this, contact Smart Currency Exchange or visit the Currency Zone.
To understand the full step-by-step process to buying a property in Spain, collect The Overseas Guides Company’s ‘Spain Property Buying Guide’
The views and comments herein are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of Rightmove Overseas, Rightmove Group Ltd or Rightmove Plc