Property sales in Spain reach three year high

Residential listing sales in Spain increased in May to their highest level for three years, according to the latest official figures.

But there is an ongoing collapse in new home sales, the data from the National Institute of Statistics (INE) shows.

Overall there were 26,455 homes sale in May, up 5% on last year and 11% on the year before that. But a breakdown of the figures shows that the increase came from the resale market, up 34% over 12 months, whilst new home sales fell 42% to just over 6,000.

The overall picture is one of a recovery in demand for listing in all areas where foreigners tend to buy, but with the market hamstring being a lack of attractive new homes for sale.

However this could be about to change. Demand is growing for new homes in Marbella, for example and developers are building again.

Land is in high demand and for the first time in almost a decade residential, commercial and tourism projects are under construction and market sentiment is increasingly positive.

The demand for land stems from a growing appetite amongst end users’ for turnkey, contemporary products with the latest gadgets and luxuries. Competitive construction costs and the decline in land prices in recent years has spurred developers on.

Buyers are seeing value again. Prices have come down, the exchange rate is favourable and buyers are seeing long term growth potential.