RESIDENTIAL property prices have increased year on year at the highest level seen since August 2006 – although this national average is skewed by five provinces in Spain where home values have soared dramatically, according to recent statistics.
As at the end of April – the most recent full month for which figures are available – the annual price rise on average was 10%, putting the typical figure for Spain at over €2,100 per square metre.
To give a practical example, a standard medium-sized apartment with two or three bedrooms would be between approximately 70 and 90 square metres, giving a typical market value of €147,000 to €189,000.
This hike in purchase price is the largest recorded in nearly 17 years, but property specialists expect demand to tail off slightly in the next few months, bringing market values back to a 'more stable level'.
'Average price' on a wide spectrum
In reality, an 'average price' for the country as a whole gives very little information to potential buyers – in fact, even an 'average price' for one specific town only tells a small part of the story. Location, property type, and local services, together with how sought-after or otherwise a given province, town or even neighbourhood is, means the actual asking price for a home can vary considerably. Two identical houses or apartments for sale, just one or two streets apart, can have vastly different market values.
Price rise also differs greatly depending upon whether the property is a new build or second-hand – the definition that covers any home that has ever been lived in before, even if it was constructed relatively recently.
And the latest figures show that the average second-hand home price rise in the past year presents major gulfs between provinces, with some having gone up in value by up to 25 percentage points more than others.
Price hikes are very different across Spain – in fact, in three provinces, they have actually gone down in the last 12 months.
Where the largest leaps in home prices are
The biggest increases since April 2022 are seen in the Balearic Islands, with an eye-watering 25.6% surge in market values.
In fact, the top two regions with the greatest rises are both offshore – the Canary Islands have seen huge hikes, particularly in the province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife.
This – one of two Canarian provinces, the other being Las Palmas – encompasses the islands of Tenerife, La Palma, La Gomera, and El Hierro, four of the region's eight, and here, asking prices for properties, and final selling prices, have shown a year-on-year rise of 21.5%.
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