Cash-in-hand house sales

ONE in every three house purchases in the Balearic Islands last year was done ‘cash in hand’.

Latest figures show that up to 36 per cent of real estate operations were carried out without a mortgage in 2022, with the figure rising to 83 per cent for foreign buyers.

Of the 17,826 families who bought a house on the islands last year, more than 6,500 did so without requesting financing, which is significant considering that average prices reached more than €230,000 ­ the highest figure in Spain and double the national average.

Foreign buyers accounted for 6,060 of the total purchase operations, with only 17 per cent taking out a mortgage to do so.

According to the regional Land Registrars Association, this shows that the more expensive a property is, the less need the buyers have to get into debt with the bank.

It also reportedly explains why foreign buyers on average take out less mortgages even though the property they buy is usually more expensive.

Half of all foreign house buyers last year were German, followed by British and French.

THREE falconers working at Palma airport prevent several aeroplane accidents every day.

The experts use 11 birds of prey to scare off other species flying over the airport airspace and thus stop them from crashing into the engines of aircraft.

The use of peregrine falcons, vultures and northern goshawks reportedly reduces the risk of accidents and delays by up 99 per cent.

In addition, the falconers also patrol the surroundings to check for the presence of dead animals that could attract