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Lower costs and a shared cultural heritage attract well-heeled émigrés — with many choosing the Spanish capital over Miami

Next month Kathia from Buenos Aires and her British husband are moving to Madrid to start a family. They’ve swapped Islington in north London for the upscale Salamanca district, where they’ve bought a four-bedroom apartment.

“Madrid is the obvious choice for us to live — for an Argentinian it feels rather like home but it’s only two hours from London,” says Kathia, who preferred not to disclose her surname. “We also love Barcelona, but Madrid is more beautiful . . . It’s possible to live in the best neighbourhood of Madrid for a fraction of the price for the equivalent in London.”

She’ll be joining a nearly 55,000-strong Argentine community in Madrid, according to the INE, Spain’s statistics institute — a number that increased by more than 6,500 between 2022 and 2023.

In recent years, political and financial instability in Latin American nations have helped drive immigration, leading some to nickname the Spanish capital the “new Miami” — the city in Florida has been a magnet for people from the region for decades. In 2022, more than 820,000 Latin Americans were living in Madrid, according to the INE — 50 per cent more than in 2015.

Kathia says that while her friends and family are not intending to leave Argentina following the election of the populist Javier Milei in November, many share her fears about the economic climate back home.

It was concern for the safety of her four children growing up in Mexico City that persuaded artist Fernanda Cordero and her Spanish husband to move to Madrid two years ago, where they rent a 400 sq m apartment in the Salamanca neighbourhood. “Although my husband, an architect, works a lot in Miami, we did not think that was the best culture for our children either,” she says. “We miss our large garden but don’t want to go back to Mexico.”

Buyers from Argentina, Mexico and Colombia are joined by Chileans, Venezuelans and Peruvians, says Pelayo Barroso, national director of research at Savills Spain. Because these buyers tend to have their capital in US dollars, a favourable exchange rate at the end of 2022 made homes in the Spanish capital cheaper, too.

Property prices are rising, though. In January, the average property price in the city in January was €4,190 per sq m, according to the online property website Idealista.com, up 8.2 per cent year on year, although the level of transactions fell by 16 per cent between 2022 and 2023, according to the Spanish notaries association.

Prime housing prices — defined as the top 5 per cent of the market — grew by 6.4 per cent in the 12 months to Q4 2023 to €9,412 per sq m, according to Knight Frank Research, yet this is still much cheaper than many other global cities: by comparison, in Paris the figure was €22,599; in London, it was €28,160.

Buying agent Lucía de la Fuente started helping Colombians move to Spain when victory was expected for Gustavo Petro of the leftist coalition Pacto Historico. “At first they were wanting to get their savings out and buy an apartment for €200,000-€300,000 in Madrid — but then they wanted to get themselves out, and spending €1.5mn on an apartment for the family.”

Some of de la Fuente’s clients will seek a residency permit with a purchase of at least €500,000 — the golden visa is available to non-EU nationals who spend more than that amount, unmortgaged, on a property. Given that they are cash buyers, they are unaffected by tighter financing conditions in Spain. They tend to want to live in Salamanca and send their children to the private IE Business School (Instituto de Empresa), she says.

Madrid is the autonomous community with the lowest tax rates in Spain, and new tax residents will benefit from a cut in personal income tax (IRPF), announced by the president of the Madrid region, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, in October. If the measure is approved, they will be able to deduct 20 per cent of investment made in financial assets, including real estate.

For students in public universities, late last year the Comunidad de Madrid announced that it would pay 85 per cent towards fees for Latin American students — the same as those from Spain or the EU.

Colombia-born Paula Ibarra moved to a rented flat in Chamberí in December. “I like the mix of trendy places and ‘mom & pop’ shops, and quieter residential vibe,” says Ibarra, who works in marketing and moved from Paris to Madrid “for its familiar language and warm, southern European culture”.

Meanwhile, María Susana Del Prado, who moved from Argentina in 2020, says Madrid isn’t just for the young. “It’s ideal for seniors seeking safety, quality healthcare, gyms and churches in a shared cultural heritage,” says the 78-year-old, whose son already lived in Madrid.

Within Salamanca, with its elegant architecture and narrow streets of boutiques and high-end restaurants, is the upscale pocket of Recoletos, next to Retiro Park, where renovated properties can cost €17,300 per sq m, according to Alex Vaughan of the estate agent Lucas Fox.

Julio, from Tampa in Florida, completed on a two-bedroom flat in Recoletos this week. “Getting a mortgage for 3 per cent, rather than the 7-8 per cent rates in the US, made it seem a good investment right now. We liked the south of Spain, too, but there just aren’t the direct flights [to Tampa],” says the software company owner, who preferred not to disclose his surname.

Vaughan says Almagro is also popular for its elegant 19th-century buildings on leafy avenues, upscale restaurants and art galleries (turnkey properties up to €14,000 per sq m), but Chamberí, Ibiza, Justicia and Huertas-Cortes are vibrant areas where international buyers are now looking for greater choice and affordability — with prices €10,500 to €13,000 per sq m.

Prices at flagship high-end projects such as the Four Seasons Private Residences have achieved record prices for the city, exceeding €18,000 per sq m, according to Savills. Last year, The Mandarin Oriental Residences in Salamanca launched, and next month the SLS Madrid Infantas Residences on the city’s Gran Vía, with prices from €1.375mn for a one-bedroom apartment, will open. The 33 apartments will have access to luxury amenities managed by the SLS Hotels group.

While these properties appeal to wealthy international buyers, Ana White, premium residential properties director at Knight Frank Madrid, says most of her buyers last year were Spanish, accounting for 60 per cent of their sales. British buyers are rare, she adds.

The lower cost of buying and renting a property in Madrid compared with Miami is also persuading some Latin Americans to move cities, says de la Fuente. “Salaries are lower in Spain [than Florida] but they say that the lower living costs and lifestyle benefits of living in Spain balance this.”

Renters would need around €7,000 per month in Miami to enjoy the same standard of life — based on average costs of food, rent and other living expenses — that costs €4,000 in Madrid, according to statistics site Numbeo.

Cuban photographer and barista Ricardo Iglesias left the Floridian city of his birth because he felt it was “pushing him out”.

“Miami was getting too intense and the lifestyle pretentious. Madrid offered me the opportunity to set up a business more easily,” says Ricardo, who set up UNFLTRD, a coffee shop, in the city centre, and rents a flat in Chamberí with his wife. “I might not make the same money as I might have done in Miami but here I can do more for less.”