La Vega Baja remains the most attractive area for expats who are looking for a second residence in the province with Torrevieja and Orihuela leading the way in a market worth billions of euros.
These two towns alone account for more than a third of all international transactions, according to the latest data provided by the Notarial Association of Valencia.
Between the months of January and September 23,920 properties were purchased by expats of which 4,854 were located in the municipality of Torrevieja, a figure that represents an increase of 96% over the same period last year.
Second position is occupied by Orihuela, largely Orihuela Costa, where 3,396 home sales were made by foreigners between the same period, 85% more than in 2021. In this case, however, the largest body of purchasers by quite a distance, were the British, who made 823 of the purchases, according to the data compiled by notaries.
As with the Swedes in Torrevieja, who bought 787 homes, the British are a very loyal clientele for real estate agencies in the area, with many specialised realtors of their own. Behind them are the Belgians, with 504 acquisitions, also in the Orihuela municipality.
So Torrevieja has now firmly established itself as the main international market on the Costa Blanca, which it manages to do in two ways.
On the one hand, it is thanks to the loyalty of Swedish visitors, who have been following in the footsteps of Nils Gäbel, considered to be the first residential tourist of that nationality in the area, over sixty years ago, and, on the other, the city has also been one of the most benefited by the enormous growth of German customers across the Costa Blanca, with a total of 484 operations in the municipality.
Outside of La Vega Baja, only Alicante manages to shadow Torrevieja and Orihuela in terms of market volume, although the profile of the most numerous foreign buyers in the provincial capital is very different where it was the Algerians who led the statistics, with 308 operations. They are followed by the Russians, with 182 operations, and the Ukrainians, with 177.
Other towns that figure on the list are Calp, with 804 transactions (74% more than in 2021); Santa Pola, with 766 (+92%); Xàbia, with 748 (+59%); Dénia, with 719 (+40%); and Benidorm, with 585 sales in the period, 88% more.
Again, the information shows the tendency of different nationalities to settle in certain areas. For example, the Dutch are the most numerous in El Campello, La Vila Joiosa, l’Alfàs del Pi, Xàbia, Teulada, Benissa and Altea, while the Swedes, in addition to Torrevieja, also lead the market in Santa Pola. The Belgians have a predilection for Calp; and the Germans sit in first place in Dénia and Pego.
