Tag Archives: madrid
Spanish prime property market bounces back
The prime property market in Spain has recovered strongly with buyers from Latin America and the Middle East rising, according to the latest index report. The recovery of the market mirrors the recovery of Spain’s economy which is expected to see growth of 2.6% in 2016, more than the UK and Germany, says the analysis from international real estate firm Knight Frank. ‘Ultra-loose monetary policy by the European Central Bank and low oil prices have led to an increase in consumer spending, higher employment and rising household incomes. The market fundamentals are improving,’ said Kate Everett-Allen, Knight Frank partner, But she added that a backdrop of global uncertainty remains. The report highlights two key property market trends. Firstly, the rise of the non-EU buyer. Latin Americans now have a strong presence in Madrid, Middle Eastern buyers are active in Marbella plus Swiss purchasers in Ibiza as the profile of Spain’s luxury buyers shift. The second key trend is the strength of the €1 million to €3 million price band and nearly all of our prime markets now consider it their most active market segment while confidence is returning to Barcelona where the number of residential sales increased by 86% between 2012 and 2015 Online property searches on Knight Frank’s website by Middle Eastern web users searching for a property in Marbella increased by 164% between 2014 and 2015. A third of Madrid’s prime buyers now come from abroad. In 2015 Latin American buyers accounted for 30% of all the prime sales agreed by Knight Frank’s Madrid sales team. The report also says that the top tier of Ibiza’s property market has become uncoupled from the wider market, recording price growth of 10% in the year to April 2016 while Mallorca saw a 55% increase in the number of applications for new residential projects in the first two months of 2016 compared with the same period in 2015. Overall, the report says, rising sale volumes in Marbella suggest confidence is returning to the market. Price growth is slowly shifting into positive territory with newly built modern villas in good locations, beachfront properties along the Golden Mile and gated communities such as Sierra Blanca, Camojan and La Zagaleta outperforming the wider market. It also points out that the recent ruling regarding Marbella’s 2010 Town Plan, which affects around 15% of Marbella’s housing stock, has led to some caution for those properties affected, but it has also refocused attention on properties in established areas which comply with the 1986 Urban Plan, as well as those which sit beyond the municipal boundary in areas such as Benahavís and Estepona. Meanwhile, Mallorca’s prime market, having reached its trough in the winter of 2014, has entered a new cycle of growth. The island’s prime markets of Andratx, Son Vida and Deià remain firm favourites with British, German and Scandinavian buyers. The report also explains that in Mallorca, not only has foreign demand strengthened with sales to foreign buyers up… Continue reading
Sellers reduce asking prices in Spain as the market become more realistic
Sellers in Spain are becoming more realistic about prices and have reduced asking values which is seen by experts as a good move in terms of keep in the real estate recovery going. Asking prices fell by 0.2% to €1,624 per meter in April, according to data from property portal Fotocasa, compared to a year ago. Meanwhile the latest house price index from the Government shows that prices were up 2.4% in the first quarter of 2016 year on year and up 0.2% quarter on quarter. The Fotocasa asking price index has been fairly stable for the last year, with prices never varying more than 1% either up or down. ‘House prices will continue to go in different directions during 2016,’ said Beatriz Toribio, head of research at Fotocasa. ‘Whilst in some areas of the country prices are stabilising or even rising, in others they continue to fall hard. This is a consequence of the crisis the sector has lived through, which has left a market of two or more speeds that is ever more obvious,’ Toribio added. Since the peak of the market in 2007 average house prices have fallen by 45% but there is some regional variation. Peak to present prices are down by 50.5% in Murcia, 47.5% in the Valencian Region, 47% in Catalonia, 43.9% in Madrid, and 42.6% in Andalusia. The Government figures, however, show that house prices are down 29% since the peak which it outs at the first quarter of 2008 and it adds that price bottomed out in the third quarter of 2014. Prices have increased the most in the Balearics with growth of 9.6%, followed by Catalonia up 4.9%, Madrid up 4.2%, Extremadura up 3.7%, Galicia up 2.6%, the Valencian region up 2.4% and the Canaries also up by 2.4%. The latest mortgage figures show that lending volumes are also up which means more people can buy a home. The data from the National Statistics Institute on Friday reveals that the number of new mortgages listed in the property registers in Spain stood at 22,983 in March, up 4.5% over the same month in 2015. In more good news for the Spanish property market the latest report from the General Council of Notaries show that foreign demand rose by 12.9% in 2015. More than half, 52%, were people buying a holiday home while 48% were foreigners living in Spain. The British were the biggest group of foreign buyers with 21% of the market, followed by the French at 9%, Germans at 7.5%, Belgians at 6% and Italians at 5.5%, the data also shows. The Balearics is the most popular part of Spain with overseas buyers with foreign purchases amounting to 44% of the market, with the Canaries at 39%, Valencia at 37% and Murcia and Andalusia both at 25%. Foreign demand growth was strongest in regions with small markets, where even a modest increase in foreign demand translates into a big increase in percentage terms. Growth was biggest… Continue reading
