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Balearic Islands seek to ban brits from buying property

Officials in Spain’s Balearic Islands want to ban non-residents from buying property. Soaring prices in Mallorca, Menorca, and Ibiza drive local people out and create “ghost villages” of empty homes.

Such a move could make it impossible for foreigners to buy a holiday home in the archipelago. It follows a similar scheme in Canada, which introduced a two-year ban on property purchases by non-residents, with exceptions made for immigrants and legal residents.

Juan Pedro Yllanes, the Balearic vice-president, has said, “we should follow Canada’s example” and asked the Spanish government to pressure the EU to allow the islands to impose a similar ban.

Francina Armengol, the Balearic president, said, “Many European and other citizens can afford a property at prices that are impossible for the citizens of these islands.”

Yllanes acknowledged a ban would conflict with the European principle of free movement. However, there are precedents, in the Austrian Alps, for example, where the EU has recognised areas of cultural significance or natural beauty that should be protected from “excessive outside pressure”.

Another precedent is the Aland Islands in Finland, where there are limits on buying second homes. In Croatia, EU citizens must be residents for ten years before they can buy agricultural land.

The Balearics government also wants Madrid to curb house prices by declaring the islands a “stressed area”, defined as a place where rent or the cost of a mortgage exceeds 30% of the average local income.

Property prices in the islands held firm through the 2008 financial crisis and the pandemic, with homes in Mallorca and Formentera among the most expensive in Spain.

The village of Deià in western Mallorca has been a favourite among the British since the poet Robert Graves made his home there in the late 1920s. The village forms part of Unesco’s Serra de Tramuntana world heritage site mountain range.

At €6,091 (£5,405) a square metre, property in Deià is the second most expensive in Spain. The estate agent Engel & Völkers is offering a “cosy” two-bedroom house in the village for €1.6m.

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