Buoyant outlook for the Spanish property market in 2019

The property market in Spain is set to remain buoyant in 2019 with one firm predicting that prices could rise between 5% and 7% in 2019.

The data from valuation firm Tinsa also shows that house prices rose 5.6% year on year nationwide in November and it is predicting that sales will increase from 500,000 to between 625,000 and 650,000 going forward.

As well as property sales, it is predicted that the number of building licences awarded will grow in a similar fashion and will reach 100,000 to 125,000 in 2019. But the figures also point out that prices are still 36% lower than the level reached before the financial crisis in 2006 and 2007.

There are also likely to be regional variations with the larger cities likely to see the biggest property prices rises while growth in coastal regions could be smaller.

Spanish home builder Taylor Wimpey Espana believes that 2019 will be busy year for the nation’s property market with strong demand from domestic and foreign buyers.

Marc Pritchard, sales and marketing director, is predicting that popular locations such as Mallorca, Ibiza, the Costa Blanca and the Costa del Sol will continue to attract buyers, particularly from Germany and France in 2019.

‘These two groups are likely to be buying in big numbers, along with keen interest from buyers in Scandinavia. It will be interesting to see what impact Brexit has on British buyers next year too,’ he said.

‘At present they remain the leading nationality in terms of foreigners buying homes in Spain, though whether that will remain the case is something that nobody can predict with any certainty,’ he added.

Spanish bank BBVA has already predicted that 2018 will end with annual house price growth of 5%, with the biggest rises being found in cities such as Barcelona, Palma and Madrid.

It also expects the number of foreign buyers to rise. Indeed, figures from Spanish Notaires show that 53,359 homes were bought by overseas buyers in the first half of 2018, much higher than the previous record high of 33,000 sales recorded in the same period of 2007 when Spain’s property market was at its peak.