# British people are leaving Spain



## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

*As Brexit starts to bite, more and more Brits are selling up and leaving Spain*

*The number of British people officially living in the country has dropped from 397,892 to 240,785 in the past five years*



https://elpais.com/elpais/2018/03/07/inenglish/1520417174_976942.html?rel=str_articulo#1521647583554


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## jimenato (Nov 21, 2009)

Pesky Wesky said:


> *As Brexit starts to bite, more and more Brits are selling up and leaving Spain*
> 
> *The number of British people officially living in the country has dropped from 397,892 to 240,785 in the past five years*
> 
> ...


The article seems to suggest that much of the drop in numbers is due to changes in procedures and counting methods rather than people actually leaving.


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## Overandout (Nov 10, 2012)

jimenato said:


> The article seems to suggest that much of the drop in numbers is due to changes in procedures and counting methods rather than people actually leaving.


Indeed, the link to BRexit is tenuous to say the least... more journalistic licence?

Many British people who were thinking of moving (not just to Spain, but to the EU in general) seem to have been spurred on by Brexit in a "now or never" break for freedom!

Reminds me of Butch Kassidy and the Sundance Kid!


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## Williams2 (Sep 15, 2013)

Pesky Wesky said:


> *As Brexit starts to bite, more and more Brits are selling up and leaving Spain*
> 
> *The number of British people officially living in the country has dropped from 397,892 to 240,785 in the past five years*
> 
> ...


FYI - I'm still waiting for the Dunkirk style gathering of little ships organised by Boris of the FO, to pick me up from Asturias.


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

Overandout said:


> Indeed, the link to BRexit is tenuous to say the least... more journalistic licence?
> 
> Many British people who were thinking of moving (not just to Spain, but to the EU in general) seem to have been spurred on by Brexit in a "now or never" break for freedom!
> 
> Reminds me of Butch Kassidy and the Sundance Kid!


Indeed, the headline is misleading, and I found the info in the article surprising given the reference to Brexit, but the info was interesting nonetheless


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

When we moved here nearly 14.5 years ago, in my town more than 8,000 Brits were on the padrón. The overall population is more or less the same now, (around 30,000) but the most recent figures give less than 5,000 Brits.

Quite a drop, & mostly in the past few years too. 

Some for sure are down to the padrón being tightened up & some at last dropped off the list who actually left years previously, but the drop is real.


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## Lynn R (Feb 21, 2014)

Apparently the number of British residents in the town where I live was higher by 6 in 2017 than the previous year. Here, the biggest decline was in German residents, with 55 fewer in 2017.

https://www.foro-ciudad.com/malaga/velez-malaga/habitantes.html#Extranjeros


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## Kikie (Nov 7, 2008)

I've heard different stories. Some that people are leaving to go back to the uk, but our accountant says she is seeing more applications for people coming here to get feet under the table before Brexit its.


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## Isobella (Oct 16, 2014)

I doubt the British population will ever reach the highs of 2000/2004. Exchange rate was great at around €1.50 to £. The more that came the more work there was for expats such as tilers, roofers, even illegal taxi demand. Lots became estate agents. Some of the early 2000 influx may have died or gone back due to old age as many who moved were 65 and over.


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## Lynn R (Feb 21, 2014)

It seems to be true of some locations. Using the foro-cuidad.com statistics, it seems the number of British residents in Fuengirola fell by 801 between 2016 and 2017, with just over 4,200 remaining. I think the tightening up of the padrón had already happened before 2016 so I don't believe that would have played a part.


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## tarot650 (Sep 30, 2007)

Isobella said:


> I doubt the British population will ever reach the highs of 2000/2004. Exchange rate was great at around €1.50 to £. The more that came the more work there was for expats such as tilers, roofers, even illegal taxi demand. Lots became estate agents. Some of the early 2000 influx may have died or gone back due to old age as many who moved were 65 and over.


How very very true.You only had to look at the Brit.plated vans,old Land Rovers that were being used by the Brit. workers.You only had to drive down the carretera and there was an absolute rake of them plus all the Brits. who were doing the scratch cards on the street corners.As for estate agents you would see an empty local a week later it would be an estate agents.I know on a Saturday and Sunday you woul d go to the Chicken Shack just past El Faro and it would be absolutely heaving with the building trade brigade.When you think when the crash came you had to be here to see the knock on effect.It was really sad.I think some people knew a problem was coming when Interoyalty went bang..Also you could not drive down the coast road without seeing Ian Botham's smiling face advertising Viva Estates another that went bang.Know a couple of people who worked for them who never got paid as they were working on commision only.Its funny how life changes,ours today is a complete contrast to when we lived on the coast although a lot of happy memories.


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

Lynn R said:


> It seems to be true of some locations. Using the foro-cuidad.com statistics, it seems the number of British residents in Fuengirola fell by 801 between 2016 and 2017, with just over 4,200 remaining. I think the tightening up of the padrón had already happened before 2016 so I don't believe that would have played a part.


Yes the clampdown on the padrón had started several years before 2016. Certainly by 2012.


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## danboy20 (Jul 10, 2017)

When Brexit was first announced, we saw a huge drop in the number of British property enquiries, but now they are back up to what they were before. 

I think recent property statistics show the Brits are still the biggest buyers in Spain.


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## tarot650 (Sep 30, 2007)

danboy20 said:


> When Brexit was first announced, we saw a huge drop in the number of British property enquiries, but now they are back up to what they were before.
> 
> I think recent property statistics show the Brits are still the biggest buyers in Spain.


They might be up Danny but they will never ever get back to the dizzying heights of the boom.You had to live here to see it.It's nice to see some sense coming back in to prices but only time will tell.


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## Isobella (Oct 16, 2014)

tarot650 said:


> How very very true.You only had to look at the Brit.plated vans,old Land Rovers that were being used by the Brit. workers.You only had to drive down the carretera and there was an absolute rake of them plus all the Brits. who were doing the scratch cards on the street corners.As for estate agents you would see an empty local a week later it would be an estate agents.I know on a Saturday and Sunday you woul d go to the Chicken Shack just past El Faro and it would be absolutely heaving with the building trade brigade.When you think when the crash came you had to be here to see the knock on effect.It was really sad.I think some people knew a problem was coming when Interoyalty went bang..Also you could not drive down the coast road without seeing Ian Botham's smiling face advertising Viva Estates another that went bang.Know a couple of people who worked for them who never got paid as they were working on commision only.Its funny how life changes,ours today is a complete contrast to when we lived on the coast although a lot of happy memories.


Spot on remember it well I think it was beaky from the pop group who used to be at the Chicken shack. He was posh though he lived near estepona Heard he had gone back to UK. They all came from Salisbury! I remember the agents, Brits selling who knew less about the system than the buyers. The intereality guy had a yacht in Banus and then the Viva guy suddenly turned up in Harrogate

Don't know how all those Brit builders got away with it. Obviously they were working, ladders piles on top etc. It was like El Dorado and many believed every word a Place in the sun said.:dance:


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## Megsmum (Sep 9, 2012)

No difference in my village. 15 foreigners same as last year


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## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

Well, sorry to buck the trend on this thread - we are having an increase of at least 12, that I know of and one couple moving from here to Almería.


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## tarot650 (Sep 30, 2007)

Isobella said:


> Spot on remember it well I think it was beaky from the pop group who used to be at the Chicken shack. He was posh though he lived near estepona Heard he had gone back to UK. They all came from Salisbury! I remember the agents, Brits selling who knew less about the system than the buyers. The intereality guy had a yacht in Banus and then the Viva guy suddenly turned up in Harrogate
> 
> Don't know how all those Brit builders got away with it. Obviously they were working, ladders piles on top etc. It was like El Dorado and many believed every word a Place in the sun said.:dance:


When we were going in Isobella Mick White owned the place.At weekends it was heaving.If you were looking for black work you could near enough guarantee to get some there.Then about 4o'clock in the afternoon as fast as it filled up it would empty and everybody went down to Bikini Beach near the castle where Mel Williams used to be on at the weekend.Another favourite haunt was The Streets of London in Fuengirola when Nick and Lisa had it then they moved in between El Faro and La Cala.Told recently that Lisa had passed away.It had to come for the authorities clamping down on the black and rightly so.It's one of the reasons we sold the bar we had.We were 100% legit and we just could not keep up with the people just renting bars and paying jack nothing to the establishment.It's funny how life changes when we first came we would work past god knows how many Spanish bars and restaurants to find an English one.Nowadays we would walk past a Brit. bar to find a good Spanish one.Our lifestyle is not for everybody but we enjoy it. Just to add only my 2cents worth but I think a Place In The Sun only got it right when they told people the further inland you went you got more for your money and like I said before it's over 15years since we moved inland but still have some fond memories of the coast and it's characters.


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## Lynn R (Feb 21, 2014)

danboy20 said:


> When Brexit was first announced, we saw a huge drop in the number of British property enquiries, but now they are back up to what they were before.
> 
> I think recent property statistics show the Brits are still the biggest buyers in Spain.


Are you finding that British buyers are buying intending to live in Spain, or buying second homes? Where I live, there are not nearly so many Brits moving here full time, but still plenty buying holiday homes.


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

Lynn R said:


> Are you finding that British buyers are buying intending to live in Spain, or buying second homes? Where I live, there are not nearly so many Brits moving here full time, but still plenty buying holiday homes.


The majority of new dog walker volunteers to our perrera are Scandinavians.
Some of both (or must I say all) genders have beer bellies and tattoos.
I tolerate them.
But oddly only Brits volunteer to shovel ****.
Wonder why...


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## Lynn R (Feb 21, 2014)

It's strange how the pattern varies between areas which are fairly close to each other, geographically.

Between 2016 and 2017 Mijas lost 1,163 British residents, but Benalmádena gained 211.


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## danboy20 (Jul 10, 2017)

Lynn R said:


> Are you finding that British buyers are buying intending to live in Spain, or buying second homes? Where I live, there are not nearly so many Brits moving here full time, but still plenty buying holiday homes.


Both. I get the feeling some are buying now before it potentially gets more difficult to buy after Brexit. 

There is also a sense that prices have started to go up again, and a holiday apartment represents a decent investment, as rents are going up extremely fast.


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## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

I agree with Isobella - it's down to demographics. Brits who moved here in the boom years are dying off or returning to the Uk in their old age to be cared for by their families or what remains of the NHS.

I wish our Ayto would tidy up the padrón. I went with a newly arrived British couple to register them last month but their house was still in the name of a woman who sold it ten years ago. They couldn't de-register her, and she now lives abroad. The workaround we finally agreed on has the three of them now living there!


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## thrax (Nov 13, 2008)

Well we're not!! I think that perhaps more Brits are leaving Spain than normal but I don't think the pattern is that different in that there are always people leaving and yet more arriving. This year and the last 6 months of last year we saw a lot of Brits arriving here and almost none leaving. Someone who has a kid in our son's school and who has a Sudanese wife voted to leave the EU but has no intention of ever going back to what he describes as that 'sh%t hole called Britain'. You couldn't make it up...


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## Rabbitcat (Aug 31, 2014)

Lucky sod 
Frigiliana is gorgeous 
Would loved to have lived there 
Bah.


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