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Ukrainian demand for rent in Spain grows by 300%.

In less than 10 months, almost 5 million Ukrainian refugees have registered as beneficiaries of the EU's temporary scheme or a similar system, according to UNHCR data compiled by the Council of Europe. Thousands of people in Spain are looking for housing to buy or rent. 

The General Council of Notaries, which publishes data on home sales and purchases by foreigners in Spain, confirmed that official transactions by Ukrainians in the first half of last year beat the record of the historical series, with more than 1,200 contracts between January and June. According to realtors, this trend can be seen both in low and mid-priced properties and in the luxury segment. 

However, this trend did not stop in the first months of the war, but continued to grow in the second half of the year. As an example, just look at the statistics from the Registry of Titles, whose latest quarterly report shows a continuous increase in purchases. The historical series of record activity occurred in summer with 484 purchases nationwide, while in the last quarter of 2022, for the first time, the weight of Ukrainians in the total number of homes bought and sold by foreigners in Spain exceeded 2%.

One of the countries most interested in renting and buying in some capitals.

As for the importance of Ukraine when it comes to finding rental apartments in Spain, the country is already among the top 20 nationalities in almost 30 capitals, including the most quoted as Malaga, Barcelona or Tarragona. In fact, in Castellón and Jane, it is the third country with more searches after Italy and Argentina in the first place, and with France and Mexico in second place.

Ukraine is also among the top 20 countries in terms of purchases, although in this case there are only six capitals: Alicante, Murcia, Oviedo, Ourense, Santander and Logroño. The latter city is where they stand out the most, occupying fifth place after the USA, UK, France and Germany.

46% increase in demand for purchases

If we look at the annual variation, we see, for example, that Alicante, Tarragona and Castellón experienced increases in demand well above the national average, with rises of over 100% in all three cases. Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Asturias and Murcia were also above the average, although searches there increased by between 60% and 74%. The most impressive was undoubtedly the demand from La Rioja, which registered an increase of almost 1,000% despite not being one of the most sought-after provinces. 

In addition, there are provinces where the interest of Ukrainians looking to buy a property was lost, such as Madrid, Girona or Barcelona, dropping only a few points. On the other hand, in other parts such as Coruña, Cantabria, Guipúzcoa, Navarra or León, demand fell by more than 10% year-on-year. 

In the provinces, demand is higher than in the capitals, although these tend to be the cities of reference. For example, in the case of Alicante, the most sought after were in Alicante itself, Torrevieja, Benidorm and La Villajoyosa; while in the province of Valencia, interest focused mainly on the city of Turia, followed by Gandhi and Culera. In Malaga, on the other hand, the most demanded destination was Marbella, ahead of the capital city of Malaga and other cities such as Estepona or Benalmadena. The same happened in the province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, where Arona and Adeje were the Ukrainian cities most sought after by homebuyers.

The 300% increase in rental demand 

If there is one fact that stands out, it is the increased interest of Ukrainians in renting properties in Spain.  During the year of the invasion searches in the country increased by 288%; that is, demand actually quadrupled compared to 2021 and was 10 times higher than demand in the year of the pandemic. This shows that many residents are looking for new temporary housing or cannot afford to buy a home. 

Disregarding the overall search volume and focusing on the evolution of the year 2022, we find that the Ukrainian demand for rental housing in the province of Alicante has increased by 430% more than the national average, while in Tarragona, Castellón, Cantabria and Asturias grows more than 1000% year-on-year, as well as Zaragoza, Vizcaya, Jaén, Burgos or Lugo, although Valladolid is the one that saw the highest increase in 2022, despite not being in the top 20 countries, it rose by 4200% more than in 2021. 

The trends observed in municipalities are repeated in terms of home purchases. And when it comes to leasing, capital cities tend to have the highest demand in the whole province. Again this is the case of Alicante, along with Torrevieja, Benidorm and Denia; and Barcelona, the provincial city that generates the most rental interest, followed by Badalona, Castelldefels and Sabadell. The same happens with Valencia, where demand is concentrated in the capital, followed by Gandia, Cullera and the port of Sagunto. 

An exception to the rule is Tarragona, the main destination for Ukrainian citizens seeking rental housing is Salou, preferring it to the capital or Cambrils.