The Alicante branch of the real estate agents association API has warned of the growing tendency of foreign property buyers to choose to buy elsewhere in Europe rather on the Costa Blanca. Marifé Esteso, President of API Alicante, told La Verdad newspaper that favoured destinations are southern Italy – where she said a house with land can be bought for as little as 80,000 € - and eastern Europe.

She said it mainly affects purchasers from the UK and Germany who buy the property as a holiday home and would normally use it for no longer than three months a year.

Esteso gave two main reasons: high prices and the problem of legal insecurity. She said the drain has been most noticeable in Torrevieja and the Marina Alta, and German purchasers in particular have not been buying on the Costa Blanca for the past three years. They have been slowly selling up ever since, she said.

The API Alicante President said sales to British buyers have dropped by as much as 90% in recent months.