FOREIGN residents are flocking back to Madrid for the first time since 2009 – the non-Spanish headcount has risen by nearly 6,000 in the past year.
As yet, the trend has not caught on in the rest of the country, but a rising number of expats in the capital could be a sign that new residents will soon be settling elsewhere in Spain.
A total of 388,120 expats live in Madrid now, compared to 382,450 at the beginning of 2015, representing a rise of 1.5%.
Economic recovery and existing migrants bringing their families to join them are largely behind the increase in the number of foreign residents, and the fact that more jobs tend to be available in the capital.
In other cases, foreigners who returned to their countries of origin with the onset of the crisis are now heading back to Spain.
Science institute CSIC says many of them went 'home' and found social and educational services were not up to the standards of those in Spain.
“What happened, for example, is that Moroccan citizens who had their children in school in Spain returned to Morocco and found enormous differences,” says sub-director of the Demographic Studies Centre (CED), Andreu Domingo.
Political instability in other countries has also led to a rise in foreign resident numbers in Madrid – Venezuelans have increased more than anyone, going up from 13,772 in January 2015 to 16,438 in January 2016, a hike of 20%.
One property consultant says they are tending to be rich Venezuelans who intend to settle in the Spanish capital and open new businesses – at least five property development projects are under way in the wealthy Salamanca district, funded by Venezuelan money.
Read more at thinkSPAIN.com