By Andrew Batt:
Foreigners who invest in Spanish property worth more than US$200,000 (S$244,646) will be offered residency status as the beleaguered country attempts to boost sales of its unsold homes.
Trade Ministry secretary Jaime Garcia-Legaz told reporters that the plan, which is expected to be approved in the coming weeks, is aimed principally at the Chinese and Russian markets as the domestic demand was stagnant. The country has more than 700,000 unsold homes.
The latest move by Spain follows similar moves in recent weeks by both Ireland and Portugal where foreign property buyers have also been offered residency papers with house purchases of more than US$500,000 (S$611,613).
The move to target Chinese buyers is particularly interesting. Last year they accounted for 868 sales – equal to roughly four percent of total property sales. Russians accounted for 1,757 sales during the same period. No data is available for the proportion of buyers from Southeast Asia of Spanish property.
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