Leading analysts expect 10% increase in Spanish property sales this year

2015 was a strong year for Spanish property, and experts predict an even more impressive 12 months in 2016.

There could be more than 440,000 property transactions in Spain in 2016, according to data gathered by leading analysts KPMG, Deloitte, N+1 and PriceWaterhouseCooper (PwC)…

At a seminar held last week to discuss the potential of the resurgent Spanish property market, experts were in agreement that the sector is poised to grow by between 10 to 12% in 2016, with transaction values in excess of €20 billion.

In 2015, cumulative transaction values reached €18 billion, but a further €2 billion in transactions are expected to change hands this year, according to KPMG’s Amparo Solis. 

With prices low but increasing, the scene is set for a bumper year in Spanish property investment, added Deloitte’s Alberto Valls, with the added attraction of low interest rates spurring even greater movement in the market.

In 2015, some 60% of property sales in Spain were funded by mortgages, which indicated that there was an abundance of cash-rich buyers. This year, the proportion of mortgage-backed homebuyers is expected to rise, which is no bad thing because it suggests that buyers with ordinary incomes are returning to the market in numbers.

Generally, the analysts were in agreement that Spain’s wider economic growth was also playing a significant part in the country’s strengthening property sector, as too were decreasing unemployment figures.

According to PwC’s Jaime Bergaz, the first four months of the year have seen transactions worth close to €14.5 billion in property already agreed, with the average value per sale also set to increase significantly, even with the ongoing political impasse at government level and the unknowns pertaining to a potential Brexit later in the year.