Tenerife faces an “invasion” from expats as tourists heading to the Canary Islands from UK, Italy and even Belgium buy 33 per cent of homes. Los Cristianos and Santa Cruz de Tenerife are two of Tenerife’s property hotspots for foreign buyers.
Official records cited by Spanish language news website Diarios de Avisos show 33.5 per cent of homes sold in the Santa Cruz province of Tenerife since 2012 ended up in foreign hands. Sales to foreign buyers are reported to have peaked in 2017, reaching 40.72 per cent in Tenerife.
In the first year numbers were collected, 27.19 per cent of sales led to foreign ownership. In 2013, this had risen to 31.5 per cent, dropped slightly to 31.38 per cent in 2014, rose to 35.8 per cent in 2015 and 39.6 per cent in 2016 amid an influx of tourists.
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The largest group of buyers in Tenerife were reportedly German nationals, which account for 18 per cent, ahead of Italians and Belgians at 14 per cent and 10 per cent respectively. Across Tenerife and Lanzarote, UK tourists are in second behind Germans, with 12 per cent of sales going to British buyers.
Estate agent Hamptons International says: “Tenerife, ‘the island of eternal spring’, is the largest and most visited of the Canary Islands, an autonomous community of Spain. Clean sea air, consistent sunshine and accessibility, highlight the real attraction of the Canary Islands as a second home destination.
“Well serviced by flights and ferries, with an average temperature of 23’C, Tenerife has some excellent beaches and mountain topography allowing spectacular sea views from even inland. Both expat living and year round tourism continues to thrive.”
Popular locations to buy for Brits include Playa del Duque, Puerto Colon, Playa Las Americas and Los Christianos, Hamptons goes on to say in its buying guide. But the influx of tourists hasn’t gone down well with locals, with groups pressurising local governments to do something about “overtourism”.
Signs saying “go home” have been erected in some destinations across the Canary Islands.
