Experts predict 10% property sales increase for Spain in 2017

Spain could well see more than half a million homes sold in 2017 – the most for a decade.

The peak of summer tends to bring optimism, which certainly seems to be the case for Spain’s property market, which has enjoyed a strong year so far.

Indeed, such is the confidence and positivity coursing through the veins of the industry that Spanish bank BBVA has forecast that 2017 will end having seen a 10% sales increase compared to last year…

Most notably, BBVA believes that more than 500,000 Spanish homes will be sold in 2017, surpassing an annual threshold last breached before the economic downturn in 2007.

This performance would surpass the bank’s own positive forecast from the beginning of the year – an upturn created by the fact that Spain’s wider economy has performed extremely well all year.

BBVA also expects an average national price rise of 3%. The bank has stated in its latest report that 2017’s typical price-per-square-metre will reach €1,570, which brings prices back in line to 2004 levels. However, unlike in 2004, the regional variation is far starker this time around, with Barcelona, Madrid and parts of the Costa del Sol seeing prices much higher than the average.

In May, official notary data showed that the average price of properties sold was €1,318 per square metre, which means that there are still likely to be further monthly price increases before BBVA’s estimate is reached.