by FSBO 
Are you looking to sell property in Spain right now?
There are more people that want to buy property in Spain than sell right now, which indicates that the Spanish property market is very healthy right now. This is great news indeed.
Remember how the Spanish property market was flying in the 2003-2007 period? That was followed by a major global housing crisis, of course, which lasted for almost 7 years.
The revival of the Spanish property market has been apparent for a while now. Close to 465,000 property sales were recorded in 2017. Spain’s national property register said in a report that property purchases in 2017 were “the highest annual figure since 2008.”
There is good news everywhere in Spain. As the New York Times says in a report titled, Spain’s Long Economic Nightmare Is Finally Over:
“For most of the last decade, Spain has suffered as an extreme example of the economic carnage that has assailed the 19 nations sharing the common European currency. Its astonishing levels of unemployment, which peaked at 26 percent, stood as a prominent marker of the desperation inflicted by the implosion of its real estate investment bubble, combined with the global financial crisis.
“Now, Spain’s economy has returned to its pre-crisis size, according to data released by the government on Friday. This seemingly puts the finish to one of the worst economic catastrophes to play out in Europe in the years since World War II. It suggests that the continent, still grappling with formidable, even existential challenges, has finally achieved recovery.”
The recovery can be seen particularly in the property market. Property prices increase at 7.6% last year, much faster than the previous year and they are not far from reaching the levels last seen in 2007.
In many areas of Spain such as Costa Blanca, Madrid and Barcelona, property prices have already surpassed their 2007 levels. In some of the other regions such as Costa de Sol, Canary Islands, and Valencia, property prices are on the move up and not far from getting there.
International ratings agency Moody’s said in a statement, “Low interest rates along with a declining (although still-high) unemployment rate, which declined to 17 percent from a record 27 percent, are supporting housing affordability.”
“Moreover, although it is likely that housing sales will exceed 500,000 properties during next year for the first time in a decade, this is still far from the nearly one million of annual housing sales before 2007. Construction activity currently is at 40 percent of pre-crisis levels in 2007, partially correcting the oversupply in place before the crisis.”
What is also apparent is that foreign buyers are back. 13 percent of home purchases last year were made by foreign buyers, once again led by British buyers. Spain has once again emerged as the top dog in the Spanish property market. The fact that the nation finally has a stable government at the centre has also helped.
