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In the first quarter of this year, sales of homes to US citizens in Spain rose by a record-breaking 57%, with Greece and Portugal following closely behind. This figure is in spite of the end of Spain's popular Golden Visa programme, which proved especially attractive to non-EU home buyers like Brits and Americans, in April this year.
According to The Daily Beast, Americans are leaving the US for Spain in record numbers in order to escape the "ongoing Trump nightmare". The huge increase in the purchasing of villas by far the biggest growing market among foreign buyers in Spain, official figures released on Thursday (May 15) showed. Majorcan hotels, which traditionally had British tourists as their main market, are now saying that the Americans are their top priority, reported the Majorca Daily Bulletin.
Americans bought 520 properties across the country, according to the Land Registrars of Spain, which records real estate transactions. Minorities from the LGBTQ+ and American Hispanics are showing particular interest in moving to Spain, they added, because they feel discriminated against in the US.
“The U.S. demand for property in Spain has been on the rise since 2020 but the phenomenal growth in the first quarter of this year likely has something to do with the election of Donald Trump, prompting more Americans to vote with their feet,” said Mark Stucklin, who runs the independent Spanish Property Insight website.
Graham Hunt, who runs Valencia Property, a real estate agency, said Americans were his number one customer because they wanted to escape the “ongoing Trump nightmare".
“Last year, Americans were our number one nationality with 34% of our sales. If the numbers continue to rise at the same rate as in the first four months of this year, they would be up 100% on last year," Mr Hunt said.
"This is because we had an early year spike before the ending of the Golden Visa on April 3 and after that Americans continue to arrive to escape the ongoing Trump nightmare."
Other factors may also have played a role in the exodus, including a lower cost of living in Spain compared to the US and gun violence. The strength of the dollar may also have contributed, Mr Stucklin added, "though since ‘Liberation Day’ it has taken a tumble, so it remains to be seen whether U.S. demand can maintain this momentum into the second quarter".
On April 3, Pedro Sanchez's Spanish government scrapped the Golden Visa scheme, claiming it was responsible for inflating property prices amid the country's housing crisis. Under the scheme, foreign nationals who bought homes for more than €500,000 (£421,000) were granted one-year residence visas, which could be extended.
The Daily Beast spoke with Gary Mason, who, with his wife Lauren, has bought a property in Valencia and plans to leave America for good, blaming Trump's populist policies as one of the major reasons.
"I think Trump is the antithesis of what we would want for the rest of our lives. He does not seem to be concerned about other people and the rest of their lives," he said.
English (US) · 