More Hong Kong investors are eyeing Spanish property as gateway to permanent residency in EU
- Spain allows investors to gain permanent residency by buying property worth €500,000
- Since 2014, more than 1,700 Chinese nationals have been granted ‘golden visas’, more than a third of total approved applicants
Hong Kong buyers are discovering the investment opportunities Spain’s property market has to offer, as well as the route it provides to permanent residency in the European Union.
Inquiries have doubled in recent months even as pro-independence protests in Catalonia raise eyebrows, said Lily Siu-Rambaud, managing director of Madrid-based property agency Epic Asia.
“Some of my prospective Hong Kong clients are sceptical about the Madrid property outlook because of protests in Catalonia … [they] feel that what is taking place in Catalonia is what’s happening in Hong Kong, but it’s not the same. Catalonia is just an island of instability [in Spain],” she said.
She said initially she had one client buying property under a residence permit programme – or acquiring a “golden visa” – but now she had seven clients who were finalising deals that will also allow them to eventually gain permanent residency.
Siu-Rambaud said three clients from Hong Kong were expected in Madrid for a “property hunting trip” by the end of November.
Spain is among a handful of European countries that are selling a fast-track residency programme through various investment options, including the purchase of property. In Spain, an investor may be allowed to gain permanent residency by buying property worth €500,000 (US$554,000), more expensive than Greece’s US$278,000 and Portugal’s US$390,000. Permanent residency allows an individual to live, work and study in the country.