Sales to Brits on the up, purchase price down, says leading Spanish real estate agency

Bengaluru, December 10, 2015: Latest figures from leading independent real estate agency Lucas Fox International Properties [1] show a significant rise in the number of sales of Spanish homes by British buyers during the last 12 months.

Sales data from the Barcelona-based company – which primarily focuses on high end properties – indicate that the number of transactions by British buyers increased by 26% across all key regions over the last 12 months, with Barcelona, Ibiza and the Costa Brava the areas most in demand.

Figures also show that the average purchase price by British buyers went down from 998,000 Euros in November 2014 to 847,000 Euros in November 2015 – a period when property prices were stabilizing.

New properties and high quality refurbished homes are currently in most demand, with new developments in prime areas selling off-plan very fast and, in most cases, close to asking price.

Significantly, local demand is also on the rise. Sales at Lucas Fox to national buyers went up by 50% from November 2014 to November 2015. The company’s latest market reports also show that prices in Spain’s three key cities – Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia – are now slowly beginning to increase.

“In all of these locations the improving market conditions are being driven by increasing levels of confidence amongst national buyers, something that is crucial for the market’s long term recovery” explains Lucas Fox founding Partner ALEXANDER VAUGHAN “In almost all our markets, this renewed confidence, a strong economy and the Spanish banks’ willingness to offer competitive mortgages has brought new investors into the market and we are now seeing international buyers competing against local buyers to secure the best properties in the most desirable locations”

Recent Q3 data from the Spanish Property Registrars [2] also indicate a rise in sales by national buyers – up by 16% to more than 80 thousand compared to the same period last year. It also showed that foreign sales
were up by 20% to 12,535 during this 3-month period. Significantly, sales of homes to UK buyers more than doubled – up by 53% in the third quarter of 2015 over the same period in 2014, thanks to a unique combination of factors:

“The last time the pound was above at 1.4 euros was in 2007 and it has been consistently so during 2015” continues Mr Vaughan “Spanish property prices in prime locations are still hugely competitive, especially if you compare them to the likes of other key European property investment hubs. An improving local economy is another major factor – growing at 3.4% from July to September, the fastest annual rate since 2008.”

Mortgages are also increasingly competitive, a trend which has not been seen for several years. There are currently a number of attractive packages on the market offering rates such as 1.3% above Euribor for
non-residents.

“I think that we are in for a prolonged period of low rates in the Eurozone” comments KEVIN MONGER of Mortgage Direct [3] “The economic climate is still very poor in many of the countries that make up the zone. I believe we may see small increments in the rate, once rates increase in other countries, such as the UK and the USA, but the circumstances are very different here and even in the UK and USA they are talking about prolonged periods of low rates, so it will be no different here in the Eurozone”

Property Registrars also showed that prices across Spain increased by 6.6% year on year in the third quarter of 2015 and 2.2% quarter on quarter.

Corporate Comm India(CCI Newswire)