Looks like the secret of the value to be found in the Murcia property market has reached the Wall Street Journal
Spain’s Sunny Murcia Has a Warming Housing Market
The region on the southeastern coast is drawing new buyers in search of pristine beaches, golf
With 300 days of sunshine every year, the region of Murcia in southeastern Spain claims to be the warmest place in the country. And after a long property recession that saw house prices cut in half, there are signs its housing market is heating up, too.
In September, Spain’s Ministry of Development announced prices had edged up by 1.3% in the second quarter—the nation’s first quarterly increase since 2008.
In the same period, the number of homes being sold—an indicator of the health of any housing market—rose by 13.9%, said Spain’s Ministry of Public Works.
Sales in Murcia, meanwhile, rose 25.7%.
Mr. Oakley said he first noticed the Murcia market was picking up some 18 months ago.
“Since then prices have been creeping up,” he said. “All the bank-owned property and the really cheap ones have been snapped up, and so buyers are having to look at more-expensive properties.”
Yolande Barnes, head of world research at Savills, said she feels that Spain’s property market has now stabilized, and suggests that growth will be slow and steady.
“A rapid rebound is unlikely given the high volume of new housing delivered before the crisis still being worked through,” said Ms. Barnes.
The weak euro is making Spanish property particularly alluring to U.S. and U.K. buyers, she added. And the rapid expansion of air routes to the Middle East could see investors attracted from that region as well.