The most expensive houses in Spain in 2021

There are more than 36,000 houses for sale in Spain at over € 1 million and over 6,000 over € 3 million. Most of these houses are concentrated mainly in several areas of the country.

Each of the 50 Spanish provinces has at least one property worth over € 1 million advertised on the Idealista real estate portal, but the distribution of these properties is not uniform. Málaga, Balearic Islands, Madrid, and Barcelona account for 73% of real estate.  On the other hand, many provinces have less than 20 properties, so their percentage is negligible.

As of October 1, 2021, there are 36,368 luxury houses in the real estate market in Spain, which exceeds 1 million €. Malaga is the province with the highest concentration of this property type, accounting for 23.1%. It is followed by the Balearic Islands with 22.9% of the total, followed by the Madrid Community with 15.1%, and Barcelona with 12%.

CONTENT:

• The most expensive house in Spain is worth € 29 million
• Detached house or villa for sale in Los Monteros
• The most expensive house in August: Villa on the Bay of Biscay
• Sant Josep de Sa Talaia is the most expensive municipality in Spain to buy a house in September
• Balearic Islands - the region with the highest price increases
• The final formula for determining whether property for sale is expensive or cheap
• Table for determining the high or low cost of an apartment

THE MOST EXPENSIVE HOUSE IN SPAIN is WORTH € 29 MILLION

According to the Idealista real estate portal, the € 29 million Villa in La Zagaleta (Malaga) is an exclusive property for sale in Spain.

The most expensive houses in Spain are usually found in the Costa del Sol and the Balearic Islands.

In particular, the most expensive villa in Malaga has an area of over 3000 square meters on a plot of 5900 square meters, located in the exclusive urbanization of La Zagaleta. It has five bedrooms, an infinity pool, a bowling alley, a golf simulator, and other amenities.

Next in value are the 2,800 square meters palace in Mallorca for € 26.5 million and the 1,350 square meter villa on a 93,000 square meter plot with its helipad for € 24.95 million.

In fourth place is a villa, also located in Mallorca, for € 22 million, followed by a house in Benahavis (Malaga) for € 18.8 million, a villa in Marbella for € 18.5 million, and a villa in Benahavis for € 17.5 million. €.

Finally, the ranking of the ten most expensive houses for sale is rounded off by three properties located in the Balearic Islands. A mansion in Calvia and a villa in Andratks are 16.8 million €, and a villa in Calvia is 16.5 million €.

In terms of area, the castle in Castilla y Leone, for sale for 15 million €, is the largest luxury home in Spain. The size of the site is 79 hectares (790,000 meters), and the total building area is 5950 square meters.

According to the real estate portal, 83% of users of the Idealista website admit that they viewed ads for luxury houses just for the pleasure of admiring them and “fantasizing” about life in such palaces.

DETACHED HOUSE OR VILLA FOR SALE IN LOS MONTEROS

Marbella’s majestic frontline beach mansion is a gated community with 24/7 security, close to clubs, restaurants, and beach bars.

This property was built in 2006.

The house is in excellent condition and is made in an exquisite Spanish style, overlooking the sea and has beach access.

In its various living rooms, you can enjoy all the beauties of the building, a magnificent games room, bar, and home cinema.

The house has six en-suite bedrooms, a service wing, a massage room, gym, Turkish bath, sauna and indoor heated pool, a tropical garden with a magnificent barbecue area, and covered terraces.

The cost is € 25 million.

THE MOST EXPENSIVE HOUSE IN AUGUST: VILLA ON THE BAY OF BISCAY

Although none of the most expensive houses are located in the country’s north, it is the most impressive due to its appearance. This luxury house is situated on the Costa Quebrada, about 30 kilometers from Cantabria, overlooking the sea and Playa de los Locos, a unique and indescribable place that few can reach.

The house area is just over 200 square meters: two floors, three bedrooms, three bathrooms, a huge living-dining room with a fireplace, an office space, a kitchen, and an incredible terrace from which you can contemplate the endless sea through huge windows.

This modern and fully functional property is ideal for use as a first or second home.

SANT JOSEP DE SA TALAIA IS THE MOST EXPENSIVE MUNICIPALITY IN SPAIN TO BUY A HOUSE IN SEPTEMBER

Sant Josep de Sa Talaia in Ibiza is the city in Spain with the most expensive resale property as of September 2021. According to the quarterly sales price report published on Pisos.com, the price per square meter was 5592 €.

In turn, Palma in September 2021 recorded the highest quarterly price increase in Spain (3.65%) - 3285 € per square meter. Palma is the fifth most expensive provincial capital led by Donostia San Sebastian (€ 5393 per square meter). In other municipalities in the Balearic Islands, Lloseta (9.88%) was the eighth fastest-growing in the region in the third quarter of 2021, and Sant Llorens des Cardassar (‒10.81%) was the second most prices city with a decline in price in the country. In terms of year-on-year price changes, the highest price increases in the Balearic were in the municipality of Alaior (8.83%). At the same time, Sant Llorens des Cardassar was the second municipality with the most significant price drop in Spain (‒20, 55%). Unlike the municipality of São Josep de Sa Talaia, Sa Poble had the most affordable housing in all the Balearic Islands (€ 1,489 per square meter).

BALEARIC ISLANDS - REGION WITH THE HIGHEST PRICE INCREASES

The average price of secondary housing in the Balearic Islands in September 2021 was € 3,217 per square meter, 2.97% more than in the previous quarter. The archipelago is the most expensive autonomous region, followed by Madrid (€ 3,037 per square meter). As for secondary housing in Spain, in September 2021, an average price of € 1,850 per square meter was recorded, showing a quarterly growth of 0.30%. On an annualized basis, the growth was 1.24%, and the monthly decline was 0.16%.

“Meeting the vaccination target has allowed real estate to respond to demand, especially the one that was before the pandemic. The result has been an impressive increase in the number of transactions and mortgages,” explained Ferrand Font, director of research at Pisos.com, who denies the existence of a new bubble. The representative of the real estate portal noted that the savings of the Spaniards at the maximum level stimulate the purchase of housing: “In times of uncertainty, housing stands out as an asset that provides long-term security, so it is an investment direction that is always on people’s minds.” On the other hand, Font noted that “... we need to be very careful about the European funds’ management in the sector and make sure that they are effectively used to find solutions for young people and promote rehabilitation.”

THE FINAL FORMULA FOR DETERMINING WHETHER PROPERTY FOR SALE IS EXPENSIVE OR CHEAP

Based on the location, age, condition of the property, and the price of other similar apartments, it can be assumed whether the selling price of the property is high or cheap. However, there is a straightforward formula that gets rid of doubts. It is enough to know the rental price or the sale price to understand whether the purchase of this apartment is more expensive than usual. Therefore it is more profitable to rent it, or, on the contrary, if its selling price is a good deal,  it is time to buy. Bankinter, a Spanish commercial bank, explains methods to help you clarify this mystery and offers a table of equivalence between different rental and purchase prices to determine if your dream home is sky-high or close to reality.

With the help of these two ratios of the rental price and the selling price, it is possible to determine whether the selling price is high or cheap and, therefore, which is more profitable - buying or renting.

On the one hand, the net rental yield is the percentage obtained by dividing the annual amount, the property’s rental price, by its theoretical selling price. For example, a property that is rented out for € 12,000 per year (€ 1,000 per month) and a value of € 240,000, according to this formula, has a gross margin of 5% (12,000 / 240,000) x 100 = 5%.

By doing the opposite, dividing the selling price by the rental price, we get PER (Price Earnings Ratio). This figure is equivalent to the number of times the annual rental income is contained in the sale price or the number of years it would take to pay for the rental in the current environment. It is a generally accepted ratio for valuing assets such as companies, houses, etc.

TABLE FOR DETERMINING THE HIGH OR LOW COST OF AN APARTMENT

Knowing the data on the gross rental yield of real estate in all of Spain, provided by the Bank of Spain (BdE) and updated quarterly, you only need to know the rental or sale price to calculate the other missing variable. Bankinter has prepared a table where the rental price is related to the house price to make things easier. The calculations were made under the latest data published by the Bank of Spain on a gross return of 3.7% in the second quarter of 2021 (PER 27.0 times). To move from one column to another, you must multiply or divide some data by 324 months.

For example, if a property is rented out for € 1,500 per month and you multiply this monthly rental value by 324 months, the sale price should be around € 486,000 in current conditions. However, if the asking price is 550,000 €, it is expensive. If you mean a property sold for € 270,000, you only need to divide by 324 to realize its rental price should be around € 833 per month. If it is below this threshold, it is cheap, and if it is higher, the rent is expensive.

Equality of rental and purchase prices with the average PER in Spain. Source: Bankinter

Another example of using this table: choose a property or area where you could live by renting or buying a house. Bankinter explains it this way: if you are confident that a property that is identical or very similar to the one you are interested in is being rented out at a specific price, then it is currently sufficient to multiply the monthly rent by 324 months to get the corresponding approximate selling price. For example, a house with a sale price of € 400,000 and a rental cost of € 1,000 per month, i.e., 12,000 € per year. When calculating the PER of a house (dividing 400,000 by 12,000), this is 33. This number is higher than the Spanish average, currently 27.0 times. Therefore, this house is expensive to buy, and it is better to rent it.

In short, “the lower the PER of a property compared to the Spanish average (27), the better to buy it, and the higher it is, the better it is to live in it like a rented property,” explains Bankinter.

This simple method serves as an approximate calculation, which can be much closer to reality if other factors are taken into account; for example, some places are more expensive than others, for example, the Chamberí area or the outskirts of Madrid. In contrast, others such as Aluche or Vallecas are more economical. Also, if the house is of a higher quality and in perfect condition, then it is expected that the sale price will be higher. It is generally more affordable to rent the best houses than to buy them, as their PER is higher.