by FSBO 
Is this the right time to sell your property in Spain? It probably is – home prices in Spain have risen by 10.8% since 2019, which is astonishing, considering how depressed the housing market was only a few years ago, in the aftermath of the global housing crisis post pandemic.
2022 was a good year for homeowners in Spain as property prices increased by 4%. This indicates that the housing market in Spain bottomed out a few years back and has been on the rise since 2014. Over 1.2 million homes have been sold since 2019, which follows years of poor performance in the housing market.
A majority of the real estate transactions in Spain, especially in regions such as Costa del Sol and the Canary Islands are fuelled by foreign demand, from overseas investors from the UK, Sweden, Germany and the USA. There is also a substantial demand coming from emerging nations such as China, Russia and from the Middle East.
The trends are very encouraging. Spain has been influenced by a confluence of new factors such as a strong economy, higher job security and lower mortgage rates. The property market in Spain has been impacted in a positive way by the number of young people finding employment in recent times.
The jobless rate for young men and women has dropped significantly from the high of 40% reached when the economic crisis was at its worst. This means there are more first-time buyers in the market than there used to be in the past.
As of today, the number of young Spaniards living in rented accommodations is 17.5%. This is expected to come down as more Millennials get married and start looking for a home to settle down.
The rental market in Spain is one of the smallest in Europe, as most people here prefer to live in their own homes rather than stay in a rented house. However, the market for holiday villas or holiday rentals remains strong.
The housing market, as always, remains dominated by resale properties, things are changing gradually. A number of new developments have come up over the last couple of years. Last year, over 60,000 new housing developments were started in Spain. Analysts expect the figure to rise to 67,000 this year.
This is 32.5% higher than the corresponding figure the year before. The data indicates that Spain is headed for a quick recovery as both the resale sector and the new build sector have been showing excellent sales.
The market in Spain is slowly working through the large number of unsold housing stock and homes that were left incomplete during the economic recession or foreclosed by banks because of non-payment of mortgage loans.
Regions such as Costa del Sol, Canary Islands, Balearic Islands and Costa Brava that were badly affected during the economic crisis have seen a revival of interest. Even external events such as Brexit haven’t affected the resolve among many global investors to buy property in Spain online. This is good news indeed.
