This is an unexpected fallout from the war in Ukraine. The Poles, who fear a Russian invasion of their territory, anticipate and invest in Spain. This country seems safer to them, because it is geographically far from Ukraine.My friends started to panic a little, thinking that there was a war going on right next door, and that it might be worth investing some of our savings elsewhere, somewhere further away.“, Iwona Wierzbanowska, owner of a house located 40 kilometers from Barcelona, confides to the weekly Newsweek.
In 2023, Poles acquired 3,118 properties in Spain, 142 more than in 2022. And already, 2022 had been a record year: the number of properties owned by Poles in Spain had almost tripled.I have three times more customers than at the same time last year.“, rejoices Alfredo Izquierdo, a Spanish real estate agent based in Warsaw who offers Spanish properties to Polish clients, to the liberal daily Gazeta Wyborcza. Malgorzata Wargocka, a Polish woman who runs a real estate agency specializing in Spanish real estate, Casa En Sol, in Warsaw, concludes 20 transactions per month and is riding this new trend.
Younger and less affluent buyers
Before the war in Ukraine, it was the sun, which is present almost all year round in Spain, that motivated Polish buyers. Today, the fear of war attracts other types of investors.younger, far from retirement, and with much smaller budgets“. The soaring prices in Poland are also responsible for this flight of Poles. The price per square meter is around 4,000 euros. It is therefore no longer only the wealthy Polish clientele who are investing in Spain but also the Polish middle class, who are looking for a place to find refuge in the event of war in Poland. The Poles currently hold 3.6% of the Spanish real estate market compared to 1.6% in 2019, notes Polityka, a progressive weekly, quoted by Courrier International Teleworking, a legacy of Covid-19, and regular flights between Poland and Malaga, Barcelona or Madrid, also make it easier for Poles to settle in Spain.
