PROPERTY investment in Spain reached a record high last year, totalling €10.2 billion - a figure that has only ever been beaten in 2007 when home prices were at their most inflated and before the end of the housing boom.
This puts Spain second from top for investment in bricks and mortar in Europe, just behind Sweden.
Marketing consultancy firm CBRE says this historic sum was mostly made up of property purchases in the last three months of 2014, which came to nearly €3.4bn - a rise of 50% on the same period in 2013.
The upward trend in property investment has been seen across Europe, with purchases going up by 32% to €218bn, reaching €78bn in the last quarter of 2014 alone - the highest amount seen in a three-month period since 2006.
But, Sweden aside, Spain still holds the trump card - whilst it only ranked sixth in Europe for investment levels in the final quarter of last year, also beaten by The Netherlands, the Mediterranean country still managed to be streets ahead of large European economies such as Norway, Denmark and Italy.
Property debt increased by €23bn year-on-year, totalling €978bn, because of banks becoming more willing to offer mortgages - new home finance deals soared by 47% in just 12 months, even though it is still only half the level seen in the greatest 'boom year' to date, 2007.
Repossessed property purchases were particularly strong in 2014 across Europe, rising 132% in a year to a total of just over €49.2bn - and Spain is well above average for these types of deals on the continent.
Last year, the number of repossessions bought in Spain increased by 103% on 2013, going from €3.2bn to €6.5bn by the end of 2014.
