Spanish property sales up 14% in space of a year

Spain’s resale property market is looking stronger, and more affordable, than it has done for a while

The trend of steady recovery in the Spanish property market has been further underlined by the latest data to be released by Spain’s notaries.

According to the data, there were 31,576 recorded residential transactions in November 2014, with represents a 14 per cent increase on the same month in 2013…

The data also revealed that the average selling price was 1.5 per cent lower than in November 2013, which suggests that the days of steeper price declines are no more.

Across the entire year of 2014, Spain’s notaries data shows that more than 30,000 properties were sold every month, except for August. Once again, this represents a steady climb on the previous year: in 2013, average transactions each month was around 25,000.

In November (the latest month for which data is available), more than 80 per cent of properties sold were apartments and flats, of which the vast majority – 90 per cent – were resale properties rather than new builds. In November 2013, resale properties represented 80 per cent of all real estate transactions that.

This trend suggests that Spain’s resale market has enjoyed a more positive recovery than the new build sector. However, analysts have forecast that as Spain’s economy recovers, more and more young Spaniards will seek to get their foot on to the property ladder, with the majority likely to be tempted by new build properties.

For foreign buyers, resale properties still represent the most attractive investment, particularly in the more popular areas of the Costa del Sol, such as Marbella, Fuengirola, Estepona and Benalmádena.

Further, new build properties cost, on average, €1,506 per square metre, whereas resale properties sold for an average of €1,194 during the month of November. Hence, currently, resale properties are around 21 per cent cheaper than new build homes.