The Balearic Islands in Spain could potentially ban people visiting from the UK and other European destinations from buying property there.
The demand for housing in these areas, such as Mallorca and Ibiza, is extremely popular especially amongst people from Germany, Britain and France. Because of this, the average price per square foot is around $300, making it the second-most expensive real estate market in Spain after Madrid ($329).
Almost 60,000 foreign buyers have purchased a property on the islands over the past 10 years, but this could soon come to an end as the government is considering stepping in.
Birmingham Live reports that in 2022, foreigners bought more homes than ever in Spain. In the first quarter of the year, notaries recorded that at least 72,987 transactions were carried out by foreign buyers.
This accounts for about 20% of all residential property sales across the country in that period.
And El Pais reports the volume of real estate purchases by foreigners accounted for almost 40 per cent of the market, according to the local property registry.
The Balearic regional government has acted and decided to create a commission in order to analyse the possibility of prohibiting the buying of housing.
Under these plans, only people who have been a resident on the islands for at least five years would be able to purchase a property.
A spokesman for Francina Armengol – president of the Balearic Islands and a member of the center-left PSOE political party – said in October of 2022 that the government is "in favor of setting limits on home ownership."
The four largest islands in the Balearic region are Mallorca, Menora, Ibiza and Formentera.
Meanwhile, it was recently announced that three of these places would introduce new tourist number limits during the busy summer season.
The Balearic Islands government said that Majorca, Menorca and Ibiza, will have an "absolute ceiling" of visitor numbers in order to reduce the impact of tourism on the islands' residents.
Instead, tourists chiefs will work to encourage holidaymakers to come throughout the year and to stay in areas which are less busy.
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