Belgians looking to buy a second home abroad are having to fork out increasingly more money. As a result, fewer people are taking the plunge in the foreign real estate market.
The average price paid by Belgians for a holiday home outside of Belgium increased by more than 12% from €288,592 in 2022 to €323,853 in 2023, figures from the Federal Public Service Finance requested by De Tijd showed. This highlights that Belgians buying a holiday home abroad are allocating an increasingly larger budget to do so.
The median price rose by €10,000 to €190,000, meaning that half of the properties bought by Belgians cost more than this amount and the other half cost less.
This price increase is clearly deterring buyers from buying a second residence abroad, as the number of Belgian taxpayers who put their signature on such a purchase deed dropped by around 1,000 to 7,973 in 2023. The decline in the number of Belgians buying property abroad can also be explained by the fact that property has become more expensive in Belgium. As a result, more and more people are keeping their money on the side to help their children buy a first home.
The higher cost also drove more people to sell their homes abroad: the number of sellers rose by a third to 2,632.
Spain against most popular in 2023
As of mid-June, a total of 221,679 taxpayers in Belgium either have full ownership of or the right to rent out a property abroad. Buyers have been obliged to spontaneously report the purchase of foreign real estate to the Belgian tax authorities within four months since 2021, or risk a fine of €1,000 to €3,000. However, foreign real estate owned by companies is not covered by this rule, meaning this figure likely does not include a large number of properties abroad owned by Belgians.
Almost 26,000 people have several holiday homes abroad, of whom 18,676 are 'multi-owners' with two properties, 4,130 have three and 1,472 have four. Finally, a select group of 228 taxpayers own more than 10 properties and two owners even have more than 100.
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Spain was again the most popular country among new Belgian homeowners abroad: 40% of new purchases are located in this southern country, even though prices rose here too. Since 2019, a new build on the Costa del Sol became about 30% more expensive, and anyone wanting to buy a new build in Spain should expected to fork out a minimum of €200,000.
France ranks second among the most popular purchasing destinations, accounting for almost a quarter of the new properties. Overall, including existing owners of properties abroad, France still remains the top country, with 27% of all foreign properties owned by Belgians being located here.
The top five is completed by Italy (10%), neighbouring the Netherlands (6%) and Portugal (4%).
