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Are you familiar with the legal procedure in Spain? How to check the technical aspects of the property? It’s not about having experience in property purchasing but being familiar with how the process works in Spain. Every country is different.
Overall, even if the process might sound easy, believe it or not, you will have a lot of questions and doubts during your purchase process and you will need assistance.
Spain is different, and most Spanish service companies do not work the same way as what is expected from a service provider in other, specifically Northern European countries and the US. Expectations are simply higher. Having a personal shopper will first help you to get all the purchase process in a professional way.
At HowtobuyinSpain.com, our mission is to help foreigners to understand the Spanish real estate market and to find qualitative partners on the ground. Since our launch, we developed a network of professionals partners with local offices all over Spain and talking the languages of the buyers. We work with many local experts for the property hunting: Pierre, Raf, Wim, Bernard,… but as well many experts in legal and tax advice, Architects… Fill this form in order to be directly in contact with our local specialists.
It´s very hard to make an important judgment or decision. Buying a property is for most people the second biggest expense in their life, after their own house. People need someone they can trust to help them, to answers all their questions, and give them guarantees that things are all right or to stop them when things are not all right. Nobody wants to make a mistake when buying something, and certainly not when it is your dream and possibly the second biggest expense you ever made in your life.
When you are not familiar with the market trends, prices, neighbourhoods, don´t speak the language and lack the experience in buying a property in Spain, you can lose a lot of time and money or simply end up giving up on your dream. This can stress you out. Your personal real estate shopper is there to assist you.
He knows:
Once you found your property, your personal real estate shopper knows if the price is correct or not, he will negotiate the best deal for you. This will save you a lot of money, and for many deals, you will recoup your personal shopper fee by itself!
Your personal shopper will search the market for you. He has is own contact in the industry and is doing this 7/7, 10hours per day. He is on the ground and can make many visits in one day… Surfing on the Internet in search of your ideal property, arranging meetings and visiting them will take a long time. It´s complicated. So, that’s really obvious!
What are the properties that buyers are searching for today? Which one suits your project the most? Which are the best neighbourhoods in the city? Where to start searching? Who to trust? When you don´t know the answers to these questions, property buying can turn into a very stressful process. The property hunter is not working for the seller as the real estate agents are. His goal is to protect your interests: the interests of the buyer.
Language could be a barrier which brings additional challenges. The search is mainly in Spanish, as most local real estate agents are only speaking Spanish. And of course, all the legal paperwork in Spain is Spanish. So, it will help the process a lot to have a local intermediary speaking Spanish and at the same time speaking your language or at least English.
Once you bought the property, the real work starts: Opening utility meters, get in contact with the property owners, pay taxes,…
Any renovation works? I guess you will need some local partners, no? Buying for investment, I guess you will need a property manager,…
Most of the property hunter will organize a call in order to understand what the customer is ideally looking for. The customer will as well give is budget expectations. The property hunter will clarify if he thinks that he can find the ideal property within budget or not and will explain how the Spanish residential market is in general and how the local market is in particular. The property hunter will help the customer to define the ideal location according to his criteria’s: specific requests, budget, but as well depending on the motivations of the buyer.
In general, foreigners could have two main motivations for buying a property in Spain:
And of course, some are looking to buy for both at the same time!
Buying a property in Spain has its own costs. Owning a property as well! So, it’s important to know where you are going from the start!
Read our reports if you want to know more on that subject.
Once the customer knows all about the personal shopper and he is confident that he is the good partner, the real estate personal shopper will send his contract to the customer with the detail of his mission and the financial terms. After signing the contract, usually, the customer will have to pay an initial down payment to cover the initial costs and start the mission. Once the mission is completed and successful, the customer will have to pay the remainder, the “success” fee. That’s another big advantage of working with a property hunter: he will get the big part of his commission, only if his mission is fully completed!
The real search is starting now. The personal shopper will first establish a list of the different criteria’s of his customer. Then he will get in touch with his contacts at many different real estate agents and he will search the market and the different portals. Once he has found a property, he will organize visits.
Once the personal shopper has found a property fitting the criteria’s, he will revert to the customer. Depending on the market, if there are a lot of possibilities on the market, he will even come back with many different properties fitting the criteria’s of the purchaser. Depending on the feedback from the customer, the personal shopper will continue is mission or not. In general, the customer will come as well on the ground, surely if his main motivation is a purchase for himself so that he can have a strong view on the different propositions and go ahead with any one of those.
Once there is an agreement on a property, the property hunter will begin to negotiate with the seller and will try to get the best price for his customer. At the same time, it’s the start of the purchase of the property which involves many different steps. Please read our Infographic on those: “The 8 Steps of buying your Spanish property”.
Assist the customer with all the paperwork, the set up of utilities, the registration of the property with local authorities, with the community of owners…
But as well, help the customer to find local partners for renovation work or interior design. This part is as well important for foreigners as most of the time they don’t know reliable partners and don’t speak Spanish.
The best way to see what a property hunter does for you is as well to look at the real estate city trip to Valencia we organised in April 2018.
Last Transaction in Madrid? Written on October 2017
They bought a one bedroom property for €361.115 tax included for investment purpose. This was financed by a mortgage of €161.115. The gross revenue on the property is €35.855 and the net revenue (before mortgage cost) is €22.971, i.e. a 6.4% net yield before tax.
How is the market in Madrid?
With “a growing economy, low financing costs, good potential for rental returns and capital appreciation” the Iberian Peninsula’s largest capital city, Madrid, ranks as the best European city for property investment.
Why is Madrid so attractive for property investors? First, Madrid’s housing market has recovered and is posting new gains. Foreclosures were down by more than 30% in 2016 and housing prices are expected to increase by 4% in 2017. Future increases are forecast to be even greater: 19% from year-end 2016 to 2021. Although prices are recovering, they are still some of the lowest in Europe, averaging 3,353€ per square meter.
Even more enticingly, Madrid has rental yields of 5.2%, the highest rental yields of any European capital city, and some of the highest in the world.
This combination of low real estate costs and rising rental prices in Madrid are big draws for property investors. To learn more reasons why the Madrid property market is so attractive, read our ealier paper: Madrid in the Top 3 European Cities for Property Investment.
Read our full report on the real estate market for the 20 biggest Spanish Cities: All you ever wanted to know about the top 20 Spanish Cities real estate markets – including price evolutions
A quick description of Pierre and his team
Pierre and his team are active on the market since more than 7 years, they served more than 800 clients and managed investments of more than 8.3m€ (nearly $10m).They help busy international professionals to find the perfect property: they provide property search, negotiation and property management services to help people from all around the world to buy in Madrid. They are an international multi-lingual team dedicated to helping international people just like you make their Madrid projects come true and without the stress and uncertainties. The average return that we get for our clients is 10.6% (includes capital appreciation and rental income – all after costs).
They speak in English, French and Spanish.
Check our most recent article of February 2018 on Madrid Property hunting: Madrid property investment: a Case study with the last update on the real estate market in Madrid.
Last Transaction in Barcelona? Written on October 2017
Signed on October 26th 2017 (it´s hard to be more hot-of-the-press). Two-bedroom apartment of 84m2 in the heart of the trendy area Gracia, in a beautiful classic building and containing historic elements like mosaic floors and vaulted ceilings that are typical for Barcelona. Who buys and why? A Belgian buyer, as an investment to rent out. We will fully renovate the apartment in order to create a lovely space and achieve attractive rental incomes and created added-value. Located in a traffic-free street, with plenty of sunlight (south-orientated) and with a common rooftop terrace, which is a unique asset in Barcelona. Purchase price: 258.000€. We negotiated a considerable discount for the buyer and more important to note is that the property was sold “pre-market”, we saw it first before hitting the market. This is the second investment property that this buyer purchases this year in Barcelona. Beside the buying process, INSPIRE will manage as well the renovation and renting out. Expected returns on own capital from the investment are 10%, not taking any potential property value increases into account.During the past few months at Inspire we have closed purchases for a total value of 3M euro and we are currently working with a total investment budget of 10 million euro across our different clients, of which about 75% are international buyers.
How is the market in Barcelona?
Barcelona is a market where we see every year an increase of approximately 15% in international buyers. Also the total number of buying transactions is going up year after year, as well as the prices do. Barcelona´s lifestyle is hard to beat and in terms of properties, the city plays in the global real estate champions league. Barcelona is a city that is a magnet and that´s not only because of it´s attractive property market. People love the city, the lifestyle, the climate, the ease of cheap travel options to come to Barcelona, the good food, … in other words a real cosmopolitan vibrant city at the Mediterranean sea.
A quick description of Raf and his team
We are passion, effort, high performance, an answer to a deep need. We are enthusiasm and focus. We are a Barcelona based company offering innovative buyer-focused Property Finder services. We do not sell houses but help you find and buy your dream place by exclusively defending your interests and guiding your through the process from A-Z, till you have the keys in your hands, including full legal advise, technical and financial help. Buying made easy.They speak in Dutch, English, French, German, Russian, Spanish and Catalan.
Check our most recent article of May 2018 on Barcelona Property hunting: Barcelona property investment: a Case study with the last update on the real estate market in Barcelona.
Last Transaction in the Costa del Sol? Written on October 2017
Between Malaga and Marbella, we bought for a couple in their 40s, a very beautiful and spacious 2-bed/2-bath apartment in a well maintained community. The apartment has 90 sp meters and was listed between €200.000 and €250.000. The couple was looking for a mixture of personal use and occasional renting. It’s location is perfect as it is 20 minutes from the airport and is within walking distance to the sea. Ideal!
How is the market in the Costa del Sol?
In spite of fears that uncertainty over Brexit was going to depress the recovering market, we have seen good and consistent demand over the last months from a variety of Northern European countries, in particular Belgium. Stylish new developments are also reappearing in many places along the Costa del Sol. As long as they are in prime locations and of high quality, they should be able to find buyers. We don’t see heavy leveraging (debt financing) or speculative attitudes (buy to sell) among buyers, which is a sign that the market is healthy and will remain so for the coming years.
Read our full report on the real estate market for the 20 biggest Spanish Cities: All you ever wanted to know about the top 20 Spanish Cities real estate markets – including price evolutions
Last Transaction in Valencia? Written in October 2017
Our client bought an industrial building in Javea (Alicante) for a future transformation with a 2 level loft including an inside swimmingpool, we talk of 340m2 and 2400m2 ground: the price was €645.000, taxes and charge included. The renovation works are estimated at €325.000. This transaction did not need any financing and this property was purchased to become a second home.
How is the market in Valencia?
The market is down in the Valencian community, -4% compared to the overall growth of 3% in Spain. The price for Castellon, Valencia and Alicante are on average at 1,386 eur/m² with important variations between the coast and the interior. Sales continue to grow and the interests on those markets is increasing.
The Valencian community has 19,657 real estate companies (INE 2017). That is why it is very important to choose a reliable partner as your real estate agency. Should your motivation be an investment or a holiday home it’s important to benefit from reliable and independent services.
Read our full report on the real estate market for the 20 biggest Spanish Cities: All you ever wanted to know about the top 20 Spanish Cities real estate markets – including price evolutions
A quick description of Bernard and his team
Bernard fell in love with Valencia during his Architect studies in 2000. He is working as an Architect in Valencia and Alicante since 2005. He is working with his team on Architect missions or as a property finder.
They speak in German, English, French and Spanish.
Check the feedback from our real estate citytrip we organised in Valencia in April 2018 with our local property hunter, Bernard.
Check the list of our partners active as real estate personal shoppers in Spain. We can’t list all our partners in this section so don’t hesitate to ask us directly if you have a request by filling this quick form.
Looking for an expert in Spain? Ask our network of local partners directly!
Senior analyst and strategist at HTBIS
Check the full HTBIS team here
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Spain has about 8,000 kilometres of coastline and 3,000 listed beaches, only Italy has a longer coastline in Europe! It’s not a surprise: Spain is one of “the” top tourist destination for European with more than 20% of European travellers. For those in search of sun and sand at any time of year,… yes, you found it!
You will find excellent facilities and sandy beaches in all the Spanish Regions. In 2022, 120.000 properties were bought by foreigners! Have a look at our detailed analysis if you want to read more on that: Who are the foreigners buying properties in Spain?
Of course, you have to ask it to the local residents. But we want to help you if you want to plan before getting there! Don’t hesitate to tell us, should you think we missed one! We helped you with four sources:
1.Our top beaches sorted per Spanish Costas
We have created Infographics for the main Spanish Costas. You will find on those everything you should know on the Spanish Costas: Airports, AVE stations, Cities, Traditional & Flea markets, Outlets, Shopping malls, Unesco sites, kids parks, Natural parks, Golf courses, Universities and of course the top beaches.
2.The Blue Flag rating: 579 beaches in Spain
3.The Q rating: 248 beaches in Spain
4.The Top 10 Spanish beaches according to the Tourist Bureau
We have created a series of “Must see activities” for each Spanish Costas and incorporated those in our newly released infographics. Click on any link and you will find a pdf downloadable version of each of those infographics.
In Spain, you can choose from 579 beaches, 100 Marina resorts and five sustainable tourist boats, all distinguished with the prestigious Blue Flag award, thanks to their quality and safety.
As such, Spain is the top nation in terms of site ranked by the Blue Flag system.
What does this mean?
This award is bestowed by the Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE). This institution was created in 1987 by Europe but now is a worldwide organisation.
What does this distinction guarantee?
The sites are ranked on 31 different criteria’s: Environment, Water Quality, Safety,… Have a look at the full list of criteria’s here.
This rating is awarded by the Spanish Tourism Quality Institute (ICTE). The Tourism Institute ranks not only beaches but as well many different sites for the quality and safeness of their sites: campings, hotels, Golfs, Touristic activities,…
Find all lists of the best beaches for all the Spanish Costas in our papers on all the Spanish Costas and on the infographics: Enjoy all the Spanish Costas: get the best out of it: our top papers of 2017
Source: Spain Tourist Bureau
If you want to have some pictures of those beaches, google image is a good start but have a look at the impressive database on the website of Aena (the company managing the Spanish airports).
Are you booking your holidays soon? Read our last paper: Our best ideas for planning your holidays in Spain! Our top 2017 papers!
Don’t hesitate to tell us what’s your favourite beach or if you found an even more beautiful one to share with our readers!
Looking for a lawyer, an architect, a property hunter in Spain? Ask us directly!
Senior analyst and strategist at HTBIS
Check the full HTBIS team here
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Europeans are buying properties in Spain as never: 137,000 properties bought by foreigners. Of course, we see many Europeans active as usual and the United Kingdom is still the first country to buy properties in Spain. A new trend is that we see foreigners coming from further: Latin America with Argentina and Venezuela, America and China are there too. Americans are benefitting from a steep discount: the euro is cheaper by 20% in 2022 vs the dollar.
A quick reminder before starting this interesting subject, please remember that if you want to buy a property in Spain, you need an NIE number, read our detailed article for more information: Your ultimate guide to your Spain NIE number – NIE Spain. Another interesting article we would recommend: How to buy a property in Spain as a foreigner? At Howtobuyinspain.com we have the best experts in our network to assist you everywhere in Spain. As you will see in this article, we have the best tools and database to know where the market is and what are the trends. Thanks to that, we help our customers to make the best deals in Spain.
As for all our articles, in this article, you will find interactive charts showing detailed data with a mouse click on it and we have static charts available for download. Please note that our interactive charts have always the most recent data as they are linked to our databases. Of course, our static charts are regularly updated.
The Statistical Information Center of Notaries in Spain has just released its last report on Foreigners’ activity in the property market.
Spaniards and Foreigners are very active: both are buying the most since 2008:
Quarterly statistics of the “Ministerio de Fomento”.
For the last 12 months to the end of June 2022, the most active nationalities were :
Check our foreigners’ profiles and buyers guides: What are the ideal Spanish properties for Belgians Chinese Dutch English French Germans Italians Moroccans
Romanians Russians Swedish?
The proportion of purchases was also high by foreigners outside the EU:
such as Morocco (7.7%), China (2.6%) or Russia (2%), America (1.6%) and other countries outside the EU 11.2%
If you want to live in Spain, have a quick check at our interesting article on the Golden Visa: Golden Visa in Spain: Your ultimate guide!
Don’t forget to hedge your currency smartly if you are buying from outside the European zone.
Here is the same info reproduced with a pie chart:
Source: Centro de Información Estadística del Notariado de Espana
Of course, Europeans are very active in the property market in Spain. Most Europeans come from northern countries. A more recent trend we noticed at howtobuyinSpain in 2022 with many new customers flowing in: Americans are buying actively everywhere in Spain, thanks to the weak Euro vs Dollar. Yes, the Euro lost 20% this year, not bad for Americans looking for bargains. Have a look at our paper written by our property hunter in Madrid for more on that: Americans are buying properties in Madrid.
Here are the countries increasing the most their property purchases in Spain in 2022 vs 2021 (last 12 months to June):
Source: Centro de Información Estadística del Notariado de Espana
All countries have a positive growth
Here is the evolution of the purchases done by each nationality since 2008
This was the situation end of 2016 when we wrote this article for the first time: we keep the same top 3 nations.
This is quite a strong vote of confidence by foreigners living in Spain! Of course, they work there and it is easier for them to buy than non-resident foreigners. Covid had its impacts: people wanted to remote work from a nice place if they could: Spain is a nice option. Others wanted to enjoy a better quality of life: more space, more sun, a better quality of life… while of course, the cost of living in Spain is much lower than in many places in the world and in Europe. For more on that, read our articles: Which are the cheapest cities to live in Spain? The cost of living in Spain vs the UK, Relocate to Spain? Spain is one of the best countries in the world for relocating and for working remotely.
Check our chart analyzing who is more active in the Spanish property market: Foreigners or Spaniards with the evolution since 2007 (the year before the crisis):
Transactions | Percent of total | Evolution | |
Valencian Community | 38071 | 28% | 59% |
Andalusia | 28362 | 21% | 20% |
Catalonia | 20404 | 15% | 31% |
Canary Islands | 10878 | 8% | 65% |
Madrid’s community | 9744 | 7% | 74% |
Illes Balears | 8685 | 6% | 43% |
Murcia | 6672 | 5% | 15% |
Castilla la Mancha | 3401 | 2% | 24% |
Aragon | 2138 | 2% | 36% |
Castilla y León | 2104 | 2% | 61% |
Basque Country | 1456 | 1% | 27% |
Galicia | 1380 | 1% | 19% |
Asturias | 986 | 1% | 21% |
Navarre | 879 | 1% | 29% |
The Rioja | 648 | 0% | 21% |
Cantabria | 592 | 0% | 15% |
Estremadura | 472 | 0% | 15% |
Same info in a downloadable format:
Source: Centro de Información Estadística del Notariado de Espana
Check the property transaction growth for each region in Red (right scale) with the number of transactions in Blue (left scale)
According to the “Colegio de Registradores de la Propiedad”, the Autonomous Communities with a greater weight of foreigners’ transactions vs Spaniards in the fourth quarter of 2021 are
Check our interactive chart on that:
According to the “Colegio de Registradores de la Propiedad”, the cities where foreigners are the most active (vs Spaniards) in the fourth quarter of 2021 are:
Check our interactive chart on that:
We did the ranking for the 12 most active countries in Spain.
Check the evolution of the foreigners’ activity per region since 2007:
Remember the infographic we did on the subject last year, it remains nearly the same in 2018!
Check the evolution of the price paid for each Spanish region since 2007 by foreigners:
The average price per square meter of properties bought in Spain by foreigners increased by 2% year-on-year to June 2022. The acceleration of real estate prices was recorded both among property transactions done by non-residents and by residents, although the former paid higher prices than the second ones, € 2,522/ m² against € 1,622 / m², respectively (with an average of € 2,062/ m²)
This price discrepancy between foreigners living in Spain and not living in Spain could come from many factors:
You can check the evolution of the price per square m paid by foreigners (resident or not in Spain) and Spaniards (resident or not in Spain) since December 2007 (the year before the crisis) on this chart:
In terms of levels, the average price per square meter paid by foreigners continued to register strong differences between each region. End of June 2022, it was below the national average
of € 1,741 in 12 of the 17 Regions. Please note that the average paid per square meter by foreigners is € 2,062.
Extremadura, Castilla-La Mancha, La Rioja, Castilla y León, Aragón and Galicia.
Murcia, Asturias, Navarra, Cantabria and the Valencian Community
Interestingly, all those regions are areas of interest to foreigners apart from the Basque Country, a region much appreciated by the French.
Let’s have a closer look at current property prices (value written in Blue on the chart) and at the price evolution (left scale) for each Spanish region for one year. The regions are Alphabetically sorted.
As you can see from the chart we just showed: prices are increasing everywhere.
Percent change on the last year | Price per region | Region |
34% | €543 | Estremadura |
27% | €1,087 | Asturias |
19% | €1,081 | Murcia |
17% | €2,893 | Madrid’s community |
16% | €867 | Aragon |
14% | €1,564 | Valencian Community |
13% | €2,195 | Canary Islands |
11% | €1,105 | Cantabria |
11% | €2,062 | National |
10% | €2,249 | Catalonia |
10% | €2,126 | Andalusia |
10% | €965 | Galicia |
8% | €3,894 | Illes Balears |
7% | €673 | Castilla la Mancha |
4% | €674 | The Rioja |
3% | €2,230 | Basque Country |
2% | €1,181 | Navarre |
1% | €733 | Castilla y León |
If you want to read more on the subject and you missed our paper of last semester: Which are the top 10 Spanish cities where foreigners are buying properties NOW? And don’t miss our property buyers guide written for any foreign country.
Source: Read the full paper in Spanish here.
As of June 2022, here is our alphabetical ranking of real estate prices paid by foreigners in Spain:
Here is our downloadable infographic on that:
Source: Centro de Información Estadística del Notariado de Espana
Of course, there are many reasons to explain those differences:
So, those are just “statistics” but they are interesting as price discrepancies between foreigners are quite big when foreigners buy properties in Spain.
Here is our A to Z must-read guide: Our ultimate 2022 guide to buying your property in Spain.
At HTBIS, we assist foreigners with their property search in Spain thanks to our network of local partners: legal advisers, tax advisers, property hunters and much more. Discover all our partners here.
Looking for an expert in Spain? Ask us directly!
Senior analyst and strategist at HTBIS
Check the full HTBIS team here
For the last 12 months to the end of June 2022, the most active nationalities were : the British (11.2%), the Germans (10.3%), the French (8%), the Moroccans (7.7%), the Romanians (6.7%) the Italians (5.9%), the Belgians (5.2%) the Dutch (4.9%) and the Swedish (4.2%)
Activity is back on the real estate market in Spain: both Spaniards and foreigners are buying now: 703,331 property transactions for the last 12 months: +18% yearly growth property activity by Spaniards increased by 13% year-on-year to 562,956 property activity by foreign buyers increased by 47% year-on-year to 136,921 This equals 19% of all the property transactions that occurred in Spain. 45% of the transactions were carried out by non-resident foreigners and 55% by foreigners living in Spain!
As of June 2022, price per square meter was on average of €1,741 per square meter. So, if you compare to other EU countries, you get a lot for your money and can enjoy the high quality of life in Spain
For the last 12 months to the end of June 2022, the most active nationality is the British with 11.2% of the properties purchased by foreigners: i.e. 15,353 properties. And actually, they were the first nationality even before during and after the Brexit. 🙂
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Follow this link if you are looking for the last update on the real estate prices for the top 20 Spanish cities.
According to statistics released by the Central Bank of Spain in November 2022, the return expected on the residential Real Estate market in Spain is 11% and 8.4% if you take a mortgage – Green line on the chart. Not a bad property investment in Spain!
This performance comes from two sources:
Here is what we will cover in this article:
Sure Covid came to impact the market for the last three years to the end of 2021 but since 2022 here are the main evolutions:
As a reminder those are the trends that impacted the real estate markets worldwide post Covid:
Don’t miss our detailed quarterly report: The top 20 property markets in Spain
Now, we are fighting against a new “issue”… inflation. The good news is that the Spanish real estate market offers a nice hedge against inflation up to now and returns remain stron.
Of course, the uncertainty in the economy that came from Covid was noticeable in 2020 but since 2021, the market is rebounding strongly both in terms of transactions and prices. Have a look at our Spanish real estate quarterly report studying the property price evolution in all the top 20 regions of Spain for more.
Have a look at our interactive chart (yes when you come back, it will be updated). As you will see, property investment in Spain was wise since 2014.
Yes, inflation is back, and so interest rates are rising. As of November 2022, mortgages rates were issued at 2.9% in Spain, Red line on the chart
Read our article updated every month with the current mortgage conditions, we have added many interesting statistics to follow as inflation levels: Find the best mortgage rate in Spain
We told you since 2020 that the risk was there for inflation spiking. Now, low mortgages are a history of the past but our view is that at the current levels of mortgages rates are still low. Another interesting thing to note is that real estate buyers are taking fixed-rate mortgages to finance their real estate purchases right now. Read more on that: Fixed or variable rates mortgage?
Have a quick look at our Spanish mortgage calculator if you want to know what is your purchasing power to buy a property in Spain:
As you can see on our chart, the estimated return became slightly positive for the second time since 2008 at the start of 2014. In 2010, the estimated return went slightly positive but it was not enough to compensate for the mortgage costs. The performance was much stronger in 2018 as the estimated profitability was higher than 10%. Right now, with close to 6%, the estimated profitability covers more than 3 times the current mortgage costs.
Are there a lot of downsides to where we are here? Check the chart of real estate price evolution before and after 2007:
Have a look at the comparison of the real estate market in Spain vs other European countries on any time frame between 3 months and 10 -year time frame
As you saw on this histogram, Spain has the weakest performance in a 10-year time frame. Click on the chart to check the performance for other period lengths.
Discover the best new build projects in Spain available right now
If you want to know your property return for your Spanish property, you need to know a few data: your rental income before and after costs, your property prices and of course it is good to know the costs of your property including taxes. For more on that, read: the cost of owning a property in Spain and What are the taxes you have to pay on your Spanish property?
Check the best rental Yields for the major European Cities, Madrid, and Alicante have rental yields close to 4%.
Have a look at our interactive chart
But check on the above chart, the price/m² in London is 7,916€/m² and 12.917€/m² in Paris… while Barcelona and Madrid are closer to 6.000€/m² and 5.000€/m².
You read it correctly: less than one-quarter and one-third of the price of London and Paris. Period.
Now, you understand why the returns in Madrid and Alicante are much higher than the ones in Paris and London.
Do you think that the downside risk is higher in Barcelona and Madrid than in Paris and London?
In the 2023 report from CBRE on European Investor Intentions, we find both Madrid and Barcelona in the top 6 as the best cities for real estate investors.
Close to 95.000 properties were bought by foreigners in Spain in 2021 (12 months to September 2021) and more than 545.000 by Spaniards.
It looks like others agree with our conclusions…
Check for more information on our up-to-date pages on the Spanish national real estate market (prices and activity) and on the Spanish regional real estate markets (prices and activity).
If you want to have a deeper analysis, city per city, we would suggest reading our full report on that (click on the picture):
Here is as well our report on the Most active cities in Spain in 2019 (in terms of transactions).
Of course, we noticed a strong rebound in early 2020,… stopped by Covid. But activity in Spain is staying stronger than in most of the other European countries. What a roller coaster!
Check our up-to-date tables of a few Economic indicators in Spain:
But after this strong rebound, as everywhere in the world, we wait for the uncertainty to settle and the vaccines to allow more “normal” economic activity.
2018 with a year of higher volatility and negative returns in the financial markets. 2020 saw a huge spike in volatility due to Covid. Shortly after, the Central banks poured money to support economies.
Since 2022, we expect higher volatility in financial markets due to the change of policy from central banks all over the world. As of 2023, the interest rate curve is inverted, which signals a very high probability rate of an economic recession. Of course, a big unknown is how inflation numbers will come in the next years. The good news as of mid-2023 is that energy prices came back under the levels of early 2022 when the war started in Ukraine.
As we wrote in our article, we are moderately optimistic about the outlook for the real estate market in Spain in 2023. While we have to admit that the comeback post-Covid of the Spanish real estate market (and everywhere in the world) was quicker and stronger than we expected. If we compare it to international markets, the rise is reasonable and not speculative. So, in our mind, we don’t see a real estate bubble here. The good news for international real estate cash-buyers: it should be easier to find properties as interest rates are rising.
Whether you’re looking for a holiday home or a permanent residence, all our local partners will help you to find the perfect property in their extensive selection of properties to suit your needs and budget. With a wealth of experience and knowledge, our team of real estate professionals are dedicated to helping you find your dream property in Spain.
But we’re not just here to help you find your perfect property. We also offer a range of services to make the buying process as smooth and hassle-free as possible. From legal advice to property management, we’ve got everything covered. Don’t hesitate to get in touch with our HTBIS team.
Have a look at our interesting articles:
Looking for a local property hunter, a local lawyer, … any expert in Spain? Ask us directly!
Senior analyst and strategist at HTBIS
Check the full HTBIS team here
Property investment Spain
Calculate the return on your property investment in Spain
Foreigners’ real estate activity in Spain
Real estate prices and transactions in Spain
Source: Deloitte Property Index 2020, Overview of the European Residential Market
Yes, for sure, as you can see, prices are rising since 2014 but are far from the top of 2008. Returns are healthy and not excessive while financing remain low. Read more in our paper.
No prices are not falling anymore in Spain. Real estate prices are rising since 2014 and remain far from the top: current average price per square meter in Spain is €1662 (end September 2021).
It depends if you are part of EU or not and if you have enough financial means to live. If you are not from EU countries, there are solutions, have a look at our article about the golden visa.
The top three markets in Spain offer interesting opportunities, Madrid, Valencia and Barcelona. At the same time many second tier cities are strong since the last two years
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Europeans are buying properties in Spain as never: 137,000 properties bought by foreigners. Of course, we see many Europeans active as usual and the United Kingdom is still the first country to buy properties in Spain. A new trend is that we see foreigners coming from further: Latin America with Argentina and Venezuela, America and China are there too. Americans are benefitting from a steep discount: the euro is cheaper by 20% in 2022 vs the dollar.
A quick reminder before starting this interesting subject, please remember that if you want to buy a property in Spain, you need an NIE number, read our detailed article for more information: Your ultimate guide to your Spain NIE number – NIE Spain. Another interesting article we would recommend: How to buy a property in Spain as a foreigner? At Howtobuyinspain.com we have the best experts in our network to assist you everywhere in Spain. As you will see in this article, we have the best tools and database to know where the market is and what are the trends. Thanks to that, we help our customers to make the best deals in Spain.
As for all our articles, in this article, you will find interactive charts showing detailed data with a mouse click on it and we have static charts available for download. Please note that our interactive charts have always the most recent data as they are linked to our databases. Of course, our static charts are regularly updated.
The Statistical Information Center of Notaries in Spain has just released its last report on Foreigners’ activity in the property market.
Spaniards and Foreigners are very active: both are buying the most since 2008:
Quarterly statistics of the “Ministerio de Fomento”.
For the last 12 months to the end of June 2022, the most active nationalities were :
Check our foreigners’ profiles and buyers guides: What are the ideal Spanish properties for Belgians Chinese Dutch English French Germans Italians Moroccans
Romanians Russians Swedish?
The proportion of purchases was also high by foreigners outside the EU:
such as Morocco (7.7%), China (2.6%) or Russia (2%), America (1.6%) and other countries outside the EU 11.2%
If you want to live in Spain, have a quick check at our interesting article on the Golden Visa: Golden Visa in Spain: Your ultimate guide!
Don’t forget to hedge your currency smartly if you are buying from outside the European zone.
Here is the same info reproduced with a pie chart:
Source: Centro de Información Estadística del Notariado de Espana
Of course, Europeans are very active in the property market in Spain. Most Europeans come from northern countries. A more recent trend we noticed at howtobuyinSpain in 2022 with many new customers flowing in: Americans are buying actively everywhere in Spain, thanks to the weak Euro vs Dollar. Yes, the Euro lost 20% this year, not bad for Americans looking for bargains. Have a look at our paper written by our property hunter in Madrid for more on that: Americans are buying properties in Madrid.
Here are the countries increasing the most their property purchases in Spain in 2022 vs 2021 (last 12 months to June):
Source: Centro de Información Estadística del Notariado de Espana
All countries have a positive growth
Here is the evolution of the purchases done by each nationality since 2008
This was the situation end of 2016 when we wrote this article for the first time: we keep the same top 3 nations.
This is quite a strong vote of confidence by foreigners living in Spain! Of course, they work there and it is easier for them to buy than non-resident foreigners. Covid had its impacts: people wanted to remote work from a nice place if they could: Spain is a nice option. Others wanted to enjoy a better quality of life: more space, more sun, a better quality of life… while of course, the cost of living in Spain is much lower than in many places in the world and in Europe. For more on that, read our articles: Which are the cheapest cities to live in Spain? The cost of living in Spain vs the UK, Relocate to Spain? Spain is one of the best countries in the world for relocating and for working remotely.
Check our chart analyzing who is more active in the Spanish property market: Foreigners or Spaniards with the evolution since 2007 (the year before the crisis):
Transactions | Percent of total | Evolution | |
Valencian Community | 38071 | 28% | 59% |
Andalusia | 28362 | 21% | 20% |
Catalonia | 20404 | 15% | 31% |
Canary Islands | 10878 | 8% | 65% |
Madrid’s community | 9744 | 7% | 74% |
Illes Balears | 8685 | 6% | 43% |
Murcia | 6672 | 5% | 15% |
Castilla la Mancha | 3401 | 2% | 24% |
Aragon | 2138 | 2% | 36% |
Castilla y León | 2104 | 2% | 61% |
Basque Country | 1456 | 1% | 27% |
Galicia | 1380 | 1% | 19% |
Asturias | 986 | 1% | 21% |
Navarre | 879 | 1% | 29% |
The Rioja | 648 | 0% | 21% |
Cantabria | 592 | 0% | 15% |
Estremadura | 472 | 0% | 15% |
Same info in a downloadable format:
Source: Centro de Información Estadística del Notariado de Espana
Check the property transaction growth for each region in Red (right scale) with the number of transactions in Blue (left scale)
According to the “Colegio de Registradores de la Propiedad”, the Autonomous Communities with a greater weight of foreigners’ transactions vs Spaniards in the fourth quarter of 2021 are
Check our interactive chart on that:
According to the “Colegio de Registradores de la Propiedad”, the cities where foreigners are the most active (vs Spaniards) in the fourth quarter of 2021 are:
Check our interactive chart on that:
We did the ranking for the 12 most active countries in Spain.
Check the evolution of the foreigners’ activity per region since 2007:
Remember the infographic we did on the subject last year, it remains nearly the same in 2018!
Check the evolution of the price paid for each Spanish region since 2007 by foreigners:
The average price per square meter of properties bought in Spain by foreigners increased by 2% year-on-year to June 2022. The acceleration of real estate prices was recorded both among property transactions done by non-residents and by residents, although the former paid higher prices than the second ones, € 2,522/ m² against € 1,622 / m², respectively (with an average of € 2,062/ m²)
This price discrepancy between foreigners living in Spain and not living in Spain could come from many factors:
You can check the evolution of the price per square m paid by foreigners (resident or not in Spain) and Spaniards (resident or not in Spain) since December 2007 (the year before the crisis) on this chart:
In terms of levels, the average price per square meter paid by foreigners continued to register strong differences between each region. End of June 2022, it was below the national average
of € 1,741 in 12 of the 17 Regions. Please note that the average paid per square meter by foreigners is € 2,062.
Extremadura, Castilla-La Mancha, La Rioja, Castilla y León, Aragón and Galicia.
Murcia, Asturias, Navarra, Cantabria and the Valencian Community
Interestingly, all those regions are areas of interest to foreigners apart from the Basque Country, a region much appreciated by the French.
Let’s have a closer look at current property prices (value written in Blue on the chart) and at the price evolution (left scale) for each Spanish region for one year. The regions are Alphabetically sorted.
As you can see from the chart we just showed: prices are increasing everywhere.
Percent change on the last year | Price per region | Region |
34% | €543 | Estremadura |
27% | €1,087 | Asturias |
19% | €1,081 | Murcia |
17% | €2,893 | Madrid’s community |
16% | €867 | Aragon |
14% | €1,564 | Valencian Community |
13% | €2,195 | Canary Islands |
11% | €1,105 | Cantabria |
11% | €2,062 | National |
10% | €2,249 | Catalonia |
10% | €2,126 | Andalusia |
10% | €965 | Galicia |
8% | €3,894 | Illes Balears |
7% | €673 | Castilla la Mancha |
4% | €674 | The Rioja |
3% | €2,230 | Basque Country |
2% | €1,181 | Navarre |
1% | €733 | Castilla y León |
If you want to read more on the subject and you missed our paper of last semester: Which are the top 10 Spanish cities where foreigners are buying properties NOW? And don’t miss our property buyers guide written for any foreign country.
Source: Read the full paper in Spanish here.
As of June 2022, here is our alphabetical ranking of real estate prices paid by foreigners in Spain:
Here is our downloadable infographic on that:
Source: Centro de Información Estadística del Notariado de Espana
Of course, there are many reasons to explain those differences:
So, those are just “statistics” but they are interesting as price discrepancies between foreigners are quite big when foreigners buy properties in Spain.
Here is our A to Z must-read guide: Our ultimate 2023 guide to buying your property in Spain.
At HTBIS, we assist foreigners with their property search in Spain thanks to our network of local partners: legal advisers, tax advisers, property hunters and much more. Discover all our partners here.
Looking for an expert in Spain? Ask us directly!
Senior analyst and strategist at HTBIS
Check the full HTBIS team here
For the last 12 months to the end of June 2022, the most active nationalities were : the British (11.2%), the Germans (10.3%), the French (8%), the Moroccans (7.7%), the Romanians (6.7%) the Italians (5.9%), the Belgians (5.2%) the Dutch (4.9%) and the Swedish (4.2%)
Activity is back on the real estate market in Spain: both Spaniards and foreigners are buying now: 703,331 property transactions for the last 12 months: +18% yearly growth property activity by Spaniards increased by 13% year-on-year to 562,956 property activity by foreign buyers increased by 47% year-on-year to 136,921 This equals 19% of all the property transactions that occurred in Spain. 45% of the transactions were carried out by non-resident foreigners and 55% by foreigners living in Spain!
As of June 2022, price per square meter was on average of €1,741 per square meter. So, if you compare to other EU countries, you get a lot for your money and can enjoy the high quality of life in Spain
For the last 12 months to the end of June 2022, the most active nationality is the British with 11.2% of the properties purchased by foreigners: i.e. 15,353 properties. And actually, they were the first nationality even before during and after the Brexit. 🙂
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Valencia, one of the most famous and well-known cities of Spain, is the main city of the Valencian Community, a Mediterranean paradise with stunning views of the coastline, located on the Eastern side of the Iberic peninsula, just a bit south of Catalonia and Tarragona.
This is the third biggest city in Spain in terms of population, and thus, it has some advantages, such as an International Airport, a great transport system, with the second largest Subway system, only after Madrid’s, more than 50 different bus routes, and a railway that connects it with the rest of the country, which will get you to Madrid in less than 2 hours for only 40 euros.
But the culture is the main attraction of this city, it is recognized as the “City of Arts and Sciences” of Spain, between its borders lies the Museo de Bellas Artes de Valencia, and the Valencian Institute of Modern Arts (Instituto Valenciano de las Artes modernas, IVAM).
City of Arts and Sciences of Valencia
It also has a deep history, being founded more than two thousand years ago by the Roman empire, then occupied by the Muslims in the 8thcentury, and annexed to Spain during the famous “Reconquista”, in 1238.
And as such, it has one of the biggest Historic Quarters, with almost 170 hectares, as well as beautiful monuments such as “El Miguelete“, “La Catedral” (The Cathedral), “Las Torres de Serrano y de Quart y la Lonja de la Seda“, which was declared World Heritage by UNESCO in 1996.
If you want to buy a summer house in Valencia, you are having luck, because it is probably one of the best places you could choose from. Being the cultural and artistic hub that it is, Valencia hosts several festivals and carnivals year-round such as:
These are but the most remarkable ones, other such as the Procession of the Corpus Christi, the festival of the Virgin of the helpless, and October ninth, which are also very important celebrations, among many others.
Valencia has, as well, several natural parks to be enjoyed, such as the Albufera reserve, a gorgeous marine gulf, or the Gardens of Turia, filled with sport related activities such as biking, football, Rugby and baseball.
If you want to take your children there as well, we got your back, as Valencia is full of activities for the diversion of the youngest among us, such as the Science Museum of Prince Felipe, The Arts and Science Centre and the previously mentioned IVAM, which all run special workshops and activities that cater to children.
And of course, there is always the beach, such as La Malvarrosa beach, El Saler Beach, Port Saplaya Beach, and many others that you will certainly enjoy, even more taking into account the sunny weather of the area, with not much rain and temperatures that allow bathing for six months a year. Find out all the monthly weather statistics for the city of Valencia, including sea temperature, in our infographic.
Also, if you were to grow tired of the city of Valencia, there are several small towns in the area with a very high touristic appeal, such as Gandía, Sagunto, Cullera, Miramar, Oliva, and many more, which are a delightful place to spend a Sunday with the family, or to have a “disconnection retire”, and finally be able to relax, away from the big crowded cities.
A street from the old city centre of Valencia
If you want to have a permanent residence in this area, you are on the right track, especially if you are looking for a quiet place were to live the rest of your life without worrying much about anything.
As in all Spanish towns, food tends to be somewhat cheap, with 150 euros you will be perfectly fine, and it could be reduced to 100 if you are on a tight budget. Real estate in Valencia city is more expensive and that is why we recommend buying or renting in the suburbs surrounding areas if you have a tight budget.
This way, you will enjoy life at a slower pace, away from all the stress that big cities can cause, and also save an important amount in your housing. Nonetheless, thanks to the well-built transport system, you can get to the Downtown of the city in less than an hour from most places.
Beach front line of Valencia.
One of the most relevant expenses you have to consider, though, are the services, normally people from other parts of the world do not realize, but electric power and heating can be very expensive.
Although electric power can be saved through many methods that we won’t get into, heating can turn out to be a turn-off for a lot of people, since you may have to pay up to 300 euros a month or more to keep yourself warm in the winter.
Nevertheless, this is heavily depending on the type of heating your property is using, since there are buildings with central heating that cost only a fraction of that, and there is a wide range in between, the most recommended types are, of course, central heating, then comes Butane, you will have to deal with the cylinders, natural gas, and at last electric, which can be the most expensive.
Most of the time, though, you won’t be able to choose, since the kind of heating is already installed and you probably can not install a new one without pouring thousands of dollars, but it is an important factor to take care of while looking for a property to buy.
Valencia is the city where the Paella was born. The traditional dining food for the fishermen.
Valencia, like every big city, is full of interesting activities to do while you rest from taking walks on the beaches and taking naps on Hammocks, and there are specialized groups online of senior citizens looking to have fun and make friends, as well as the activities run by the town hall for retirees, that will make of your leisure time a lot of fun.
The city of Valencia has been a centre of interest for investors lately, it has not needed any help to become one of the largest cities in the country, and a recent move of companies that used to be based in Barcelona (due to de nationalist’s desire to break apart) has the real estate industry grow immensely.
Nonetheless, it does not have the peaks of interest and skyrocketing prices of other big cities, such as Madrid, this city enjoys healthy growth over the last decades, that seems to be growing even faster nowadays.
With a price-per-square-meter that can get as low as 700 euros on the cheap side, and up to 2300 euros on the most desirable locations, it is much more affordable than other cities, like Madrid, that has a price of up to 5.000 euros per square meter, and as such, there is a lot of room for growth and development as people from other parts of Spain come looking for a good job market with affordable housing.
The economy in this city is very dependent on tourism and service-related work, as almost 85% of the population works in the service industry.
Plaza of the City Hall of Valencia
External investing is rising all over Spain, as investors from all around the world buy properties in different cities, the main investors tend to be Chinese, English, Russian, Italian, Netherlandish and Scandinavian, among many others.
Since 2013, after the sudden drop in property prices due to the crisis, the Valencian Market hasn`t stopped rising, with an overall growth rate of almost 5%, and a growth on transactions of 10% (per year).
The real estate market is becoming very fast-paced in Valencia lately, as owners have realized the increase in the value of their property and buyers want to buy while properties are relatively inexpensive, this is what is causing an increase in transactions in the market of almost 20% lately.
Read our paper we wrote last year on Valencia if you want to discover more about the city: Valencia, the third biggest city in Spain, is a centre of interest for foreigners.
Read more: Real estate prices in Valencia available in our Spanish property report updated quarterly.
Valencia is a beautiful place, with the most breathtaking and awe-inspiring natural landscapes, an interesting and deep culture, rooted in a rich history, and that is what makes Valencia as a city, and as a territory of Spain, a great place to live in, be it seasonally, or as a retiree.
Furthermore, the real estate market has had healthy growth over the last years, and it does not seem to be changing any time soon, something that is especially appealing to investors that are not looking to make a quick buck but want a long-lasting and safe investment.
Overall, Valencia is one of the most recommendable places to buy a property in Spain, it has all of the benefits of being a big city, such as a good transport system, international airport, and access to a variety of activities, without the overwhelmingly steep prices of cities like Madrid or Barcelona.
Find all our other articles and maps on the Spanish Costas:
With our team of more than +100 local real estate partners, HowtobuyinSpain helps foreigners to buy real estate in Spain.
The experts from our network are active in all the fields you need:
Looking for an expert: Architect, property hunter, lawyer,… in Spain? Ask us directly!
Senior Analyst and writer at HTBIS
Check the full team at HTBIS here
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Named after the flowers of the orange trees, which is a famously common crop in the area, this specific zone over the Spanish coastline is very promising for those looking for a place to buy property or to enjoy holidays.
The location of this coast is somewhat unclear since until a few years ago the name “Costa del Azahar” covered the coastline from the Valencian Community to the Provincia de Castellón. But nowadays, and due to efforts from the touristic industry in Spain, it has been used to describe only the part located in the Provincia de Castellón. So this is the definition we will use since we will cover the Costa de Valencia area in another article and we want to give more attention to this specific area.
Castle of Peniscola
The province in which this costa is located is called Castellón, o Castelló in the language spoken in the area. This province is inside the Comunidad de Valencia, don’t forget that in Spain each Comunidad has more or less the same benefits as States in the US, and as such, they can pass their laws, run their governments, and in this case, have their official language.
In this case, the locals over the Coast and in the central part of the Provincia speak Valenciano, but over the Provincia’s South, people from Aragon started to come in, so the language most commonly spoken there is Spanish.
Nonetheless, whether you’ll go to the coast, the south, or to any place in the Provincia, there will come situations in which some level of knowledge of this language will not only be handy but almost necessary. For people trying to get to this place, this could be a barrier: Spanish is enough in this part of Spain but if you want to communicate freely the knowledge of the Valenciano could be a plus.
This Pronvincia’s capital is the city under the name of Castellón de la Plana. A rather small city compared with other capitals of Spain, with only 170.000 people living in it, and it has the same benefits as every other small city out there, like a more calm pace of life, which might be of your interest.
And if you ever need any of the benefits of a large city, like say, an airport, you have Valencia, the third biggest city in Spain which is just a few miles away, and the good structure and organised transport system will take you there in less than an hour.
Now that’s out of the way, let’s talk about Castellón as a Provincia. It is located to the north of the Provincia de Valencia, and its eastern border is the Balearic sea made up of a group of islands, named the Balearic Islands, the most famous being Mallorca.
This offers some exciting options for vacations, since taking a Ferry from Castellón to Mallorca is undoubtedly possible and somewhat cheap, and Mallorca being such a beautiful touristic Island that everyone should visit at least once.
The beach of Vinarós
But you do not need to get to Mallorca to enjoy some of the most delightful beaches; this area is full of graceful, lovely and magnificent beaches, each on its way, that will keep your hands busy while you get to know everyone of them.
Some, but not all of those beaches are: Playa (beach) marina D’or, Playa Romana, Playa Moro, Playa Sant Antoni, Gandía, Malvarrosa, Almadrava, Serradal, Xeraco, Peñiscola, Benicarló, Alcossebre, Benicàssim and Vinaros, among many, many others.
Besides the beaches, Castellón has many more natural landmarks to brag about, such as a large variety of natural parks. See the full list of those at the bottom of this paper.
It is important to mention, though, that the landscape in this Provincia varies immensely: some natural parks have beautiful beaches, and others are surrounded with awe-inspiring mountains, like those on park Sierra de la Irta.
And there are as well very specific and rather interesting landscapes that are certainly a must-see, such as the Grutas (caves) of San José, several Castles on Peñíscola and Morella, and a whole lot of small picturesque towns all over the territory, like the fortified Village of Mascarell.
Peniscola City – view from the sea
As you would expect from this place, investment is not something widespread in this area, it has a limited population, which does not seem to grow very fast, and the capital is relatively small.
Though the province has a thriving economy, several Spanish industries established their headquarters there, such as agriculture, ceramic, furniture production, shoe fabrics, fishing, textile, and several fabrics owned by multinational companies in the Chemicals sector.
This means that an investment in the area is not something completely crazy, but we do believe that investing in real estate in this place might not be the best idea, especially having the city of Valencia so close. On the other side, you could find bargains and the proximity of Valencia gives it some value.
That being said, if you’d like to get some lands and own a farm, or buy properties in the capital and hope for some earnings, you are in your right to invest. But if your main interest is an investment, in our mind, there could be other places with much more potential and lower risk.
Have a look at our detailed quarterly report on the Castellón property market and the Costa del Azahar property market.
For more on that, read our article we wrote last year in October: The Castellón real estate market resurrects but remains very attractive in 2017 and check our the feedback from our real estate citytrip in Valencia we organised in April 2018.
If you plan to get a house and live a calm rest of your life, this might be the place for you! The climate allows more than six months of beach-bathing a year. The scarce population means that even in the capital you’ll be in peace, and the nearby beaches and touristic hotspots will be sure to keep you busy.
In addition to that, it is important to comment that most of the population of the area are people in their golden years since a big part of the younger population decides to move towards the biggest cities, looking for opportunities.
This means that there are a lot of people in their retirement, continually attending the “Centros del adulto mayor” in which older people meet to play games and have fun, so you will be able to make new friends and have a great time.
On the one hand, living in a rural area has its disadvantages, and public transport is one of them. But the transport system in the Comunidad de Valencia is rather good, but it does not go so far into the countryside, you will still have buses and other transport systems, but it won’t be as good as those found in big cities.
On the other hand, you will quickly find everything else you need for your healthy life. There are several hospital and health centres all around the territory, and since tourism is a big industry in the area, the small population can support things that they usually could not, the point is that you can be sure that you’ll have all of your necessary services and products available.
Another big plus of living in this Provincia is that you get the opportunity of going to Valencia every time you want to and go to festivals and parties that are celebrated there, for more information read our article on Costa de Valencia.
If you desire to buy a summer house, Provincia de Castellón is an option, but only for some people, since the area is somewhat calm and there are not many other activities for young people or families with children than going to the beach or the mountain.
And even though it is a great experience, you could get tired after a couple of weeks of doing the same for the youngest ones, and if you have to go to Valencia every time you want to do something new and exciting, you might instead buy a property there in the first place.
But if you are looking for a place to have a break, outside from the world and your responsibilities, this is the place you have been looking for, and you’ll also get a beautiful place to go to once you decide to retire.
If what you are looking for is a comfortable, calm, relaxing place to stay in, you have just hit the jackpot! Retirees have here a welcoming space, where they can enjoy their last years going to the different beaches, to the mountain, or to Valencia city, definitely a place I’d like to live when it’s my time to retire.
Investors looking for properties and families looking for summer houses, though, are out of luck if they don’t like calm places. Since there won’t be huge profits investing in this place, nor will they find an exciting location to go on holidays, not because they will not enjoy their time, but because there could be better options, more active ones, out there.
If you want to check the monthly weather statistics Castellón follow the link.
Know everything on the Costa Azahar: its Airports, its AVE stations, its Cities and villages, its shopping places: Traditional & Flea markets, Outlets and shopping malls. What should you visit? The Unesco sites, the parks for kids, the green parks, the golf courses, the universities and last but not least the top beaches. Check our infographic.
Are you looking for a local partner: Lawyer, property hunter on the Costa del Azahar? Don’t look further check our team and ask us for the correct contact.
Find all our other articles and maps on the Spanish Costas:
With our team of more than +100 local real estate partners, HowtobuyinSpain helps foreigners to buy real estate in Spain.
The experts from our network are active in all the fields you need:
Looking for an expert: Architect, property hunter, lawyer,… in Spain? Ask us directly!
Senior Analyst and writer at HTBIS
Check the full team at HTBIS here
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]]>The post How do I choose between fixed and variable rates for a mortgage? appeared first on How to buy in Spain.
]]>Click on any flag to get an automatic translation from Google translate. Some news could have an original translation here: News Nouvelles Nieuws Noticias Nachrichten
Fixed-rate mortgages and variable-rate mortgages are the two main categories of mortgages you can pick. Of course, there are many other possibilities between the two.
A Fixed rate mortgage has the advantage that whatever the market conditions will do in the future, it will remain the same. To get that advantage, you will on average pay a higher rate than on a variable-rate mortgage, for instance, as of August 2021, mortgages with variable rates were issued at rates of 2.11% while those with fixed rates were issued with 2.7% for an average length of 24 years.
As we are writing, end 2021, Inflation rate is exploding in Spain: the level as of end October is 5,5%.
It could be because it is cheaper and because you don’t see inflation or rates going higher or because you are comfortable financially and can face higher rates. Another reason for variable rates to be cheaper is that for the banks issuing them, it matches their sources of funds (saving’s accounts).
So, to conclude, if you want safety, take a fixed-rate mortgage. If you see inflation spiking or interest rates going higher (in general due to a strong economy) you could as well go for a fixed-rate mortgages. Of course, the longer your mortgage is the higher your risk will be.
Don’t hesitate to ask to your Spanish mortgage broker a pricing with both and compare both offers.
Due to inflation spiking around the world or due to the worldwide economic recovery (expectations), we see that while a year ago mortgages were initiated with variable rates, the trend just changed in 2021 and accelerated end 2021 so that now, 67% of mortgages are issued with fixed rates (as of August 2021). May be some people see a real risk of inflation spiking, which in turn should increase the variable rates.
Check the evolution of the percentage of mortgages with fixed and with variable rates
Check the evolution of the mortgage rates (average, fixed and variable )over the last year
Senior analyst and strategist at HTBIS
Check the full HTBIS team here
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This article is the fourth one, and the core of our analysis, of our dedicated reports on the Coronavirus, here is our introduction paper: What are the impacts of Coronavirus on the Spanish real estate?
Prices will come down as the economy slows. We should switch from a strong seller’s market, which means a market where sellers have the last word, to a buyer’s market, where the buyers will have the last word.
A lot of changes will take place in the Spanish real estate market in a post-Covid-19 era, here is a quick summary of our insights:
Of course, an important question remains for many of our international readers: when will the travel ban be removed?
In this article, we will review the impacts of the Coronavirus on the Spanish Housing Market and analyse in detail:
So let’s start.
Our understanding is that real estate agents will reopen doors on the 11th of May for general business.
Of course, one of the first impacts was that all house viewings were cancelled as the real estate market was frozen for two months in Spain.
A backlog of pending transactions has to be resorbed as well.
In short, this means that the industry will have to invest more into IT tools, and people as sales will evolve and be more challenging. The estate agent will need confidence from the sellers and the potential buyers. It will take much more time than before Covid-19, and in the beginning it will require more resources.
To conclude on the real estate business changes due to Covid-19: easy times are done for the industry: it will take more time to get a seller, to get buyers, and to make it happen. While there is a lot of uncertainty in the present world, one thing that is certain is that any step will be much more time consuming now, than before.
In 2019, 501.085 residential transactions took place in Spain.
Unsold new homes
A quick look at the supply side of new homes to the market as this was the main issue in the 2008 crisis. The number of unsold new homes in Spain is 460,000 as of the end of 2018. (most recent data available). Read more here: Where are the new build properties available in Spain?
As 25 million homes exist in Spain, it means that about 1.8% of all the properties are unsold newly built properties. Find this statistic always updated in our “real estate Returns and Mortgages in Spain” table.
Experts expect 25% fewer transactions in 2020 and see prices decreasing up to 15% as written by eleconomista.es. Bankinter’s analyst, Juan Moreno, published on the 27th of April an article in which he estimates that the price of housing in Spain will fall by around 6%.
The housing market will not go unscathed, as consumer confidence and a strong labour market are the two essential elements in the decision to purchase a home.
Fewer buyers will come to the market than before:
Read our to dedicated papers on that subject:
More sellers will come to the market than before:
Related: What are the impacts of Coronavirus on the Spanish Economy?
Price evolution
Sellers that have to sell quickly will need to change their mind regarding price, vs before the crisis, and what is going get deals done. Have a look at our next section: Which Spanish real estate markets will thrive in a post-Covid-19 world? for a detailed analysis by region.
Of course, this should give a negative short term bias to official property prices. Midterm, the economy will tell us in which direction the real estate prices will go. We think that the trend should remain negative up until the end of 2021.
Two strong positives to keep in mind:
Don’t miss our quarterly update on the Spanish property prices for all the top 20 Spanish cities.
Yes, in the short term after the easing lockdown measures some people will be tight on cash or will need to move on and be willing to sell at a discount. For example we expect a maximum discount of 10% in Barcelona and Madrid city centres, and maybe a little more for other cities to get a quick deal done. Please remember that those markets were strong earlier on this year and benefited from a healthy (not crazy) rebound since the bottom of 2014.
There could be a real demand for rural properties outside cities with up to a 1-hour commute. They will benefit from people looking for more space while working in those 5 cities.
We see a very minor impact for premium properties in those cities as supply is low and demand should remain high.
Wealthy people are reassessing their life choices and going for more private spaces: Wealthy Spaniards will want to get more space as residential units are “small” even by their standards due to historic constructions in city centres.
Wealthy foreigners will reassess their life priorities as well and could decide to get more sun and buy a nice property in Spain.
Don’t forget as well, that the current prices remain very competitive in comparison to European international cities. Read our Spanish property analysis for more on that.
During our last two visits to these cities, we confirmed fast train accessibility with our local partners. Thanks to the fast Train accessibility, the “AVE”: 1h46 for Valencia, 2h21 for Alicante, 2h45 for Barcelona and 2h38 for Malaga; these three cities are gaining traction from people living in Madrid to buy second homes. This trend could be accelerated due to Covid-19 as wealthy people living in the capital may be looking for more space.
Many negative cross currents are impacting those areas:
We wouldn’t be surprised to see big discounts on resale, higher than 15% for some deals, and some discount for new buildings as more supply is coming to the market.
Read more on that with our newbuild section in two paragraphs.
For people who have known us for a while, they will be happy if they followed our advice and invested in cities with “real” economic activity rather than pure “touristic” cities. As we can see today, this was very important advice to follow.
If you understand Spanish and want to read further on the Spanish Costas property prices, here is another article published in the Expansion paper on the 10th of May.
We think that second-tier cities will suffer more than Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia and smaller cities will suffer even more. So, we wouldn’t be surprised to see deals with discounts higher than 15% in the rest of Spain as the economic situation is bad.
More supply is coming to the market as the industry rebounded from the 2008 crisis for a few years up to 2019, which was the best year since then in terms of units sold. A few interesting facts:
This concludes our in-depth analysis of the Spanish Housing Market post-Covid-19. To end our analysis, we will cover those topics:
Don’t neglect the basic recommendations to keep yourself and others safe:
Senior analyst and strategist at HTBIS
Check the full HTBIS team here
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It looks like Spain is getting ahead of some countries and getting the control if its motorways.
Check our updated Map of the toll-paying, toll-free (and soon to be toll-free) motorways of Spain
Download here your pdf format map.
On 31 December 2019, the concession period for the AP-4, Seville-Cádiz and AP-7 motorways, on the Tarragona-Valencia-Alicante section, managed by the AUMAR concession company belonging to the Abertis group, ends, 48 years after the entry into service of the first of these, the AP-4. As of this date, both highways will revert to the State, and will be managed by the Ministry of Public Works, which will no longer collect tolls from users, following the example of the AP-1, whose concession ended on November 30, 2018.
These are two sections of the motorway from those built in the late 1960s and early 1970s. This stage was the beginning of motorway construction through public works concession contracts. In these contracts, the concessionaire had to design, build and maintain the motorway, taking charge of the financing, and in return obtained the right to operate it for a period of time, charging users a toll to recover the investment and cover the operating costs.
How to take advantage of those new developments?
We think that this “toll-free” environment will be beneficial to Valencia and Castellon and the Valencian community economy in general as it will allow all the businesses in the region to move faster and decrease their costs.
Read our last quarterly report and the last trends of the real estate market in Valencia
Here is our research on Castellón.
Check the price we get from our partner, the most effective car rental screener, here
Motorways are 90% toll-free in Spain. Since 2018, Spain isn't renewing old concessions coming to end.
The AP 7 is a toll road but since the 1st of January, all its parts in the North and South of valencia are free. The part in the North of Barcelona will become free in 2021
Some of the motorways in Spain are toll roads, some are toll-free. 90% of the Spanish road network is toll-free
The speed limit on motorway in Spain is 120km/h.
Source: Fomento
Looking for an expert in Spain? Ask us directly!
Senior analyst and strategist at HTBIS
Check the full HTBIS team here
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