07 January, 2019

By VIVA Team

Great property market news to kick off 2019

For those of you awaiting the first real estate market news of 2019, here it is: second hand property prices in Spain increased quite dramatically last year.

Yes, this is the news that resale, or second hand, house prices in Spain went up a whopping 8.4% over the course of the last twelve months; at least according to the statistics analysts at Idealista.

I say this with some caution simply because property valuation figures tend to vary slightly depending on the author of the data, whether it be Tinsa, the National Registrars Association, the Spanish Statistical Office, etc.

However, despite the small discrepancies that may be noted between these different data sources – some of whom are yet to publish their findings – the overriding conclusion is that 2018 was a breakthrough year in terms of the growth of the real estate sector and further consolidation of the Spanish economy as a whole.

After the news that Spanish home values – inclusive of new build homes and second hand properties, let’s not forget – went up by 4.9% in Q3 2018, with further monthly year-on-year rises experienced since then, this is hardly a surprising statistic.

In layman’s terms

As useful as statistics are, many of us just want to know what our second hand property in Spain is actually worth now compared to 1st January 2018. If these statistics are to be taken at face value, this means that if your home was worth, say, €250,000 at the beginning of last year, theoretically it would now be worth more like €270,000 as a national average.

Of course, this is an average percentage, and the appreciation (or depreciation) of any property would depend entirely on the region or province. According to Idealista’s data, Andalucía’s price increase for the year was quite similar to the national average (at 7.2%), while the province of Málaga exceeded it with an 11.1% surge.

Now is the time to buy

If you’re not a homeowner in Spain yet, there are no signs that second hand property prices in Spain will wain in 2019, as all home values are set to increase by between 5% and 7% over the next twelve months, given the projected market conditions.

So, by way of reiterating the message, now is most definitely the time to buy. Although price increments are predicted to be sustainable and not erratic, the moral of this tale is to get your foot in the door (literally!) before prices rise much further!

Need any information related to buying or selling property on the Costa del Sol? Do you want to know what impact this might have on your property? Our VIVA property experts are on hand to answer any questions you may have, from making the move to Spain, information about related costs and legal issues, the latest market news and tendencies and, of course, the best range of properties anywhere on the Coast.