Moroccans are also the largest foreign community in Spain and represent approximately 1.56% of the total population.
Rabat – A report by the Bank of Spain revealed today that 14% of foreign property owners in the European country are Moroccans.
The share of foreign-owned properties in Spain increased from 4% to 11% between 2007 and 2019. The majority of foreign property owners are immigrants legally residing in Spain. Some Moroccans are among the non-resident foreigners who buy a second home or invest in property in Spain, but most are from high-income European countries.
According to the report, non-resident foreigners tend to prefer properties along the Spanish coast, in the Mediterranean Balearic Islands, and in the Canary islands off Morocco’s Atlantic coast.
The resident and non-resident foreign interest in both island clusters may account for the rising housing costs there, the Bank of Spain explained.
The Spanish central bank underlined a “high correlation” between the increase in house prices and the increase in foreign demand for real estate in certain areas.
Foreign-owned property is generally limited to a few provinces in Spain, which have consequently become home to a growing population of foreigners.
The real estate purchases are distributed throughout Spain but concentrated in the Canary Islands province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife.
Foreigners paid, on average, 3% more per square meter than Spanish buyers after 2007, and 4% more beginning in 2013.
After the burst of the Spanish housing bubble in 2007, Europeans came to represent 58% of foreign real estate purchases in Spain. Over 12 years, the figure has decreased to 53%, and specific nationalities have evolved with the shift.
British-born residents in Spain have been reducing their volume of real estate purchases, while Italian residents have increased theirs. The two nationalities each account for 8% of foreign property purchases.
Chinese residents of Spain represent 6% of property owners, Romanian residents make up 12%, and Moroccan residents comprise 14%.
The National Institute of Statistics (INE) reported on April 21 that Spain is home to 864,500 Moroccans with legal status as of 2019, making Moroccans the largest foreign community in Spain, representing approximately 1.56% of the total population.
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