The strength of the dollar, an increase in direct flights and an appetite for the ‘Spanish way of life’ have driven more U.S. buyers to the country’s real-estate market
Ron Hale, the 59-year-old founder and CEO of Natural Tone Organic Skincare, a Florida-based beauty-supply company, recently moved to Marbella, on southern Spain’s Mediterranean coast, for a 3,000-square-foot, three-story townhouse with four bedrooms, spacious balconies, sea views and a sale price of $1.1 million. He chose Marbella due to its balmy year-round climate, food, golf and international flair. His newly remodeled turnkey purchase has easy access to Málaga airport, the gateway to Spain’s Costa del Sol region, a 45-minute drive away. American buyers of primary residences and vacation homes are shaking up the Spanish real-estate market, with Spanish notary records indicating that sales to Americans were up 76% in the first half of 2022 compared with the year before. Sean Woolley, managing director of Cloud Nine Spain, says Americans now make up 25% of his sales and 20% of his inquiries.
In Madrid, Alejandra Vanoli, managing director of Spain’s VIVA Sotheby’s International Realty, says Americans have become the No. 1 foreign clientele in the high-end market. Gil and Laura Madrid, who work together at Ms. Madrid’s Georgia-based travel agency, Resort to Laura Madrid, paid just over $1 million for a 1,790-square-foot Madrid apartment in the city’s atmospheric La Latina neighborhood. They settled on the two-bedroom, two-bathroom turnkey refurbishment after looking at a dozen other homes. Ms. Madrid, 54, calls the choice a no-brainer, citing the city’s vibrant culture and the historic center’s walkability and affordability. Spain’s real-estate market is seeing rising prices, but the country, which is still recovering from the 2008-09 financial crisis, can seem like a bargain. In Marbella, prices rose 6.4% in 2022 from 2021, still down some 15% from their peak in the third quarter of 2008.
Palma de Mallorca, the capital of Spain’s Balearic Islands, has some of the country’s most expensive residential real estate, with average prices of $263 a square foot. With seasonal direct flights to Newark, N.J., the historic city is seeing a spike in American buyers who want to balance Old World charm with contemporary convenience. Sotheby’s Ms. Vanoli says Palma city properties, 20 minutes from the airport, are at the top of Americans’ lists. Kelsey and Michael Wulff, a British-German couple in their 60s, have listed their 11,800-square-foot Palma palace for $6.3 million. Located a short walk from Palma’s waterfront Gothic cathedral, the palace salon has its original wooden ceilings, whose vivid colors were revealed during a restoration, and a rooftop terrace with 360-degree views.
Mrs. Wulff has been a witness to Palma’s remarkable gentrification, noting that back in 2000, even taxi drivers wouldn’t come to this area. Valencia, Spain’s third-largest city, also has become a center of expatriate American living, with 90% of its American clients interested in full relocation. This new wave of expat American is coming for a “Spanish way of life” that his clients regard as a respite from political divisions and the threat of gun violence. Valencia combines Barcelona-style architecture and beach life with Madrid-style urbanity and Seville’s signature orange trees. Rob Glickman and his wife, Tina Ashamalla, relocated here in 2019 from the San Francisco Bay Area and closed in late December on a 1,400-square-foot apartment near their rental.
They paid $470,000 for the apartment and two garage spaces and are now shopping for a three- or four-bedroom apartment with outdoor space for themselves and their two children. They plan to use the property now for visiting friends and family, and possibly later on as a primary residence in their retirement. Mr. Wilde says newly arriving Americans often come with Spain’s Golden Visa program in mind, which rewards real-estate purchases of at least 500,000 euros (about $536,000) with family wide residency permits.
Scott Pirrie, a recent Valencia arrival from greater Seattle, is earning dollars from real-estate investments back in the U.S. He and his wife are looking for a three-bedroom apartment of up to 2,150 square feet at a price that would qualify them for the Golden Visa program. Americans also make up the clientele at Culto Interior Design, a Barcelona studio co-founded by Daniel Rotmensch, a Spain-based Israeli who offers a one-stop-shop refurbishment service. Average home prices in Barcelona top out at $358 a square foot, slightly higher than Madrid, but growth is more sluggish. Eixample luxury homes, known for their stylish vintage detailing, are a fraction of what similar units might cost in London or Paris. A four-bedroom, 3,900-square-foot apartment in a prime Example neighborhood is currently listed for about $3 million.
