Wealthy UK expats fleeing Brexit flock to Barcelona and Madrid

MADRID – Barcelona and Madrid are at the centre of an expat boom with wealthy foreigners buying expensive homes in Spain because they are attracted by the lifestyle or a desire to escape Brexit Britain or US gun culture, experts say.

About 80,000 foreign residents from countries with a GDP higher than Spain’s are now living in Barcelona, while there are about 68,000 expats living in the Spanish capital, INE found.

Francisco Nathurmal, founder of BCN Advisors, a real estate company that 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, then it is followed by the French with about 10 per cent and then there are buyers from Asia and Latin America,” he told i.

“The average property which Britons are buying costs between €800,000 and €1m.”

The number of expats moving to Barcelona has quadrupled in the past 30 years, according to data from the Spanish National Statistics Institute (INE) from 2021, while the number of foreign residents has more than doubled in Madrid in the same period.

In 2022, 292,171 Britons were registered as residents in Spain, according to INE, a rise of more than 10,000 from 2021, when there were 282,124 UK residents registered. The number of Britons registered with authorities in Catalonia, whose capital is Barcelona, was 22,000 in 2022.

Anya Van Der Drift, 49, a British businesswoman who runs My Barcelona School, which helps families find the right schools for their children in the Catalan capital, moved there 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, because of 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 Engel & Volkers, an estate agent which specialises in upmarket properties.

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In Barcelona, foreigners spend on average €653,000 (£557,00) compared to Spaniards, who buy homes for an average of €612,000 (£552,000). In Madrid, foreigners spend on average €1m (£850,000) compared to €988,000 (£843,000) for Spaniards.

Last year, one in two clients who bought properties with the company was a foreigner. The Chinese led the list of buyers, followed by Venezuelans, the French, Russians, Egyptians, and Americans.

At Amat Immobiliaris, an estate agent in Barcelona that operates in affluent areas, 40 per cent of clients are foreigners, said Guifré Homedes, the company director.

Judit Montoriol, an investigator from Caixabank Research, believes expats can be defined as foreigners who emigrate out of choice rather than necessity.

“They emigrate in search of an experience. They are attracted by what Spain has to offer: quality of life, good climate, culture, gastronomy,” she told La Vanguardia newspaper.

“Also important, I think especially for upper- and middle-class Latin Americans, are issues like security or access to quality healthcare and education.”

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said last week golden visas for foreigners would be banned to ease pressure on the property market, but experts have said foreigners only have a small influence on the domestic property market.