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The demand for buying property in Spain is still high, so much so that, if you look at the real estate market data, no one would say that the country is still facing a pandemic that is also affecting the economy and the number of workers on sick leave.

 

In the absence of sales data for the last two months of last year, everything seems to indicate that there will be well over 500,000 sales and purchases, a figure not seen since 2008, while the October 2021 sales figures alone were the highest since 2007.

 

Buyer euphoria has gripped the real estate market in Spain. This is due to the revitalisation of the buyers’ market after lockdown, coupled with a better savings rate of families and excellent mortgage and financing conditions, all of which have combined to lead to a year-on-year increase of almost 40% in property transactions in the first ten months of 2021.

 

 

 

The most popular type of property for buyers in Spain are brand new homes. In 2021, the sale of new builds grew by 39% year-on-year, while second-hand property sales grew by 35%.

 

Most of these were by people looking to buy a home for their own use, rather than to rent out, and focused mainly on the search for homes with larger surface areas, a market segment that had slowed somewhat towards the middle of 2021 but rebounded in the last quarter of the year.

 

 

Recent research suggests that expats are buying more homes in Spain, especially in popular sunny areas like Murcia and the Costa Cálida, with the number of foreign nationals buying property rising by around 50% in the first half of 2021.

 

Historically low interest rates and the fear of a possible rise were the biggest reasons for this surge, although the truth is that no changes are expected in this regard, at least this year. These low financing costs kept the effort rate for buying a home below the historical average (at 30% of gross annual salary, compared to 34% historically), according to Bankinter.

 

 

The price of new and used housing increased by 4.3% on average in 2021, with the bulk of the autonomous communities in Spain recording average price increases of between 2% and 6%. The highest price rises were in the Basque Country (9.4%), the Balearic Islands (9.3%) and Galicia (6.8%).

 

In Murcia, meanwhile, house prices rose by 5% in November 2021 compared with the same month in the previous year, and this trend is expected to continue in 2022.

 

People will continue to buy more houses in 2022, with estimates of property transactions topping 550,000 units. House prices will almost certainly rise again, with experts predicting an increase by the end of the year of between 2% and 5% on 2021.

 

One thing’s for sure – if you’re looking to get on the property ladder in Spain, now is the right time to do it.

 

Images: Archive