"Germans have been infatuated with the biggest Balearic Island since the 60s and 70s, and in the following decades they consolidated this love affair by buying properties on the island rather than just going on holiday there. "Houses were very cheap, a property boom was created, as the German mark was very strong against the peseta," Antonio Salva, emeritus professor of Human Geography at the University of the Balearic Islands, told Diario Ara."
"In the 80s and 90s, German buyers in Mallorca were also allured by tax benefits they obtained back home from investments abroad. Properties were sold at prices that seemed very high to the local population, but were actually very affordable for the Germans of the time. The lack of generational replacement in the Mallorcan countryside created a favourable climate for the sale of properties and land to Germans, who built villas away from the noisy party spots of the island."
Germans remain one of Spain's top three foreign tourist groups, with more than 2.1 million visiting Spain in the first three months of the year and Mallorca long their preferred destination. German interest in Mallorca began in the 1960s and 1970s and expanded from holidays to property purchases as houses were cheap and the German mark was strong against the peseta. In the 1980s and 1990s tax incentives and attractive relative prices encouraged German buyers to acquire land and build villas, often in rural areas. Resident and second-home German numbers have fluctuated between roughly 15,000 and 60,000 over the decades. Recent data indicate a decline in Mallorca's appeal among its main German market.
Read at www.thelocal.com
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