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The Price of Luxury Housing Soars by 7%

 

18 August 2017

The real estate market is beginning to take off. The luxury housing sector has accumulated a level of growth that shows just how good times are. During the first six months of 2017, the price of luxury homes saw an increase of 7% over the same period in 2016, according to data released yesterday by the real estate agency Barnes International. In absolute terms, this means that the average price per square meter of luxury residences in Spain has already reached 6,500 euros.

Despite the good data, growth is not homogeneous throughout Spain. The two principal Spanish cities, Madrid and Barcelona, stand out at the top of the table. Also worthy of mention are other largely touristic regions such as the Catalan Costa Brava, the Andalusian Costa del Sol, the Valencian coastline and the Balearic Islands. In all these areas, growth is even higher and increased 10% between January and June 2017 compared to the year before.

According to Barnes, this increase in prices has not had a negative impact on sales. If the pace of real estate transactions in the first half of 2017 is maintained in the second, the average level of purchase and sale transactions will increase by 10%. In particularly dynamic areas, such as the main Spanish cities or coastal areas, the pace is even higher, with year-on-year growth of up to 20%.

“The real estate sector is experiencing its best moment since the economic crisis,” Emmanuel Virgoulay of Barnes International said yesterday. “The previous three years have served to leave behind the effects of the recession and now the market is enjoying greater security, with investors in luxury housing who again trust Spain as a country with highly profitable assets.”

The data concerning average sales times in the luxury real estate sector are also positive. Between January and June, the average was around five months, although in the most buoyant areas the average time fell to three months. The French are the ‘fastest’ buyers of luxury properties, with an average of two months and four visits to the home, followed by the British (three months and five visits), the Belgians (four months and five visits) and the Germans (five months and seven visits). For their part, Spaniards and Italians required an average of seven months and eight visits to make the decision to acquire the property.

In terms of financing, Spanish buyers of luxury homes required a 40% financing to buy a luxury property. The French were the ones that least availed themselves of financing, with between 10% and 15% using loans. They were followed by British and Belgians (about 20%), while Germans and Italians approached the Spaniards (25% -40%).

Original Story: Expansion ProOrbyt – Héctor Millano

Translation: Richard Turner