Types of real estate in Spain: popular, unusual, strange

Types of real estate in Spain: popular, unusual, strange

There’s a great variety of real estate in Spain. Interestingly, the concept of real estate was born centuries ago in another country and culture. Yet somehow, these unusual/unconventional types of accommodation found their way to the Iberian island.

Each of the 17 regions of Spain is unique, with regards to who owns real estate and how, and in terms of what types of property are available to buyers. In Barcelona and Madrid, a new type of collective accommodation is very popular, namely, condominiums. Moreover, in Galicia, this is popular in Cortijo, Masia, and Paso.

In this article, we’ll be combining all the different types of real estate offers, providing you with information about who is moving to the country, as well as what investors can purchase in Spain.

Content:

Popular types of real estate

Let's start with popular types of real estate - classic houses.

Apartments and studios

A popular choice among investors is apartments and studios because they are an easy way to earn money on rent. What’s more, their prices are affordable. So, demand is always high especially in coastal resort areas.

Interestingly, most Spaniards live in apartments.

These properties often offer a quick return on investment and the cost of investing is more than affordable, rarely exceeding $100,000 - $1,200.

The most affordable apartments and studios for investors and buyers are found in the secondary market. So it is worth paying attention to residential areas in the suburbs.

In the resort areas of Benidorm, Lloret de Mar, Magaluf, and Torremolinos, there is an oversupply of apartments and studios Therefore, it will be unwise to invest in them if you are not ready for the competition. Nevertheless, it remains a choice for recreation or accommodation.

For apartments or studios, prices range from $93,000 to more than a million dollars.

Investors are advised to consult with experts regarding who potential buyers in a particular region are.

For instance, Spaniards prefer to live in apartments and studios, while British prefer to choose semi-detached houses.

Unlike villas and townhouses, apartments and studios are famous for their low maintenance costs. Plus, apartment buildings often have round-the-clock security and are located near public parks, recreation, and entertainment areas.

Types of real estate in Spain: popular, unusual, strange

Villas and townhouses

This type of property is popular with large families who are permanent residents — as something that apartments cannot provide (in most cases). Most of all, villas are popular among the British, as are prefabricated houses.

Moreover, unlike apartments, the cost of villas and townhouses is much higher. This is because they are subject to high taxes and require a significant amount of maintenance as they have large gardens, parking spaces, and swimming pools.

On the other hand, villas and townhouses are secluded and peaceful places as most of them are located in remote areas of the city.

What’s more, townhouses are cheaper because many residents live in them. However, less privacy and thin walls are some of the disadvantages.

Old villas are often one-story. However, villas built over the last 10-20 years are often 2-stories.

So while villas and townhouses are what wealthy buyers should first look for, investors would do well to steer clear of them as they are not so attractive and advantageous.

Bungalow

This is a popular type of real estate in coastal areas. However, it’s worth noting that the Spanish bungalow is significantly different from the traditional understanding of what this type of real estate is. Specifically, this is a private one-story house but is also often an apartment in a two-story building with a large veranda, a flat roof, and a small land plot or wooden platform.

As you can see, bungalows are diverse, both in terms of price and space. This is demonstrated by the availability of both very cheap and luxury bungalow properties. What’s more, the cost of bungalows will even put the prices of villas to shame.

In general, most bungalows are much smaller than villas, cheaper to maintain, often equipped with a large set of additional facilities from swimming pools to solariums.

However, one of the disadvantages is the lack of living space — bungalows are small properties.

Unusual types of real estate

Let's discuss a more specific offer on the market.

Developments (urbanizaciones)

These are residential complexes built for a specific purpose and in a specific place. They often combine apartments, townhouses, and villas. They are located in resort areas.

Some of them are compact while others are small independent cities within cities. Examples are the developments (urbanizaciones) of La Marina in Costa Blanca and Calahonda in Costa del Sol.

Residential complexes and villa clusters are located near shopping establishments, local public transport systems, recreational and entertainment spaces like swimming pools, gyms, walking paths, and parks. There are also bars, restaurants, and cafes.

Developments are diverse in terms of size and price. There are both super-expensive resort complexes as well as affordable and small communities.

Many public places are serviced using a fee from individual homeowners in the complex. Purchasing a property in a developing area means that you become a member of the local community. This is accompanied by certain advantages and some basic restrictions like rules of conduct.

These are a great option for foreigners who want to be immersed in the local community quickly.

The disadvantages include limited privacy and high prices.

Types of real estate in Spain: popular, unusual, strange

Semi-detached houses, row, and quad houses

All 3 of these types of real estate are independent houses.

A semi-detached house is a building consisting of 2 mirrored living rooms with a kitchen, a bathroom, a living room, and bedrooms all separated by one wall.

Row houses or houses with terraces are extended 1 or 2-story buildings where the living areas are connected by adjacent and common walls.

Quad houses are buildings where the living area is connected internally by 2 adjacent or perpendicular walls along with 2 other areas. These are becoming quite popular in Spain.

All 3 of these types of accommodation have private entrances as well as private plots with a garden.

It’s well worth mentioning that all these properties are not native to Spain and come from other countries such as the United Kingdom — semi-detached houses have been popular in this country since the 19th century.

Moreover, this layout was originally chosen because it was expensive to build and maintain houses for every working family. As such, it was more profitable to build one house that would serve as a common building and be divided into private premises for each family.

  • The advantages of semi-detached houses are that they are cheap in construction and maintenance, have affordable purchasing and renting prices, and have a large living area with private gardens and swimming pools on private plots.
  • The disadvantages of semi-detached houses are the lack of privacy and noise from neighbors.

Still, these types of properties are popular among tourists so they may be of interest to investors.

Rural real estate: fincas, rural estates, and country houses

If you’re considering or have already decided to leave city life behind, then this next section is for you. We’ll be explaining everything regarding real estate purchases in more peaceful rural and provincial areas.

First of all, buyers dealing in this type of real estate are motivated by the comparatively low cost and the remoteness from the hustle and bustle of urban life.

Fincas is a term that combines all types of real estate from small huts to large rural estates. It is much cheaper than resort real estate, is diverse and available in all regions of the country.

This type of real estate has large private plots, gardens, vegetable gardens, and everything else that’s in keeping with the norms of rural life.

In addition to this, taxes are cheaper but maintenance can be expensive. Nevertheless, this is the type of property that best allows you to immerse yourself in the Spanish lifestyle.

Most of these are also extremely old and historical properties that need special care.

Cortijo is a traditional rural house/farm based on ancient Roman villas. It is a secluded house that has all the necessary farming essentials especially animal husbandry.

Cortijo houses are most widespread in the south of Spain, namely, Andalusia, Extremadura, and Castilla-La Mancha.

Moreover, it’s cheap to purchase this type of housing and is ideal for those who are looking for the privacy and tranquility of rural life. However, due to the size of these properties, maintenance is often time-consuming. In addition, you can forget about having access to many usual urban conveniences.

The city of Masia is similar to Cortijo. It’s located in the eastern and northeastern regions of Spain. This type of housing has the same advantages and disadvantages as Cortijo’s. The only difference lies in the cultural way of life since the Southern parts of Spain are different from eastern and northeastern Spain.

A country house (Casa de Pueblo) is a rural townhouse or a semi-detached house. Interestingly, with this type of real estate, both the advantages and disadvantages are well balanced and neither one outweighs the other.

Additionally, these types of country houses are very old so it’s often difficult to say when they were built. Moreover, offers on the market for this type of real estate have usually already gone through a restoration process; without this, it would be impossible for anyone to reside there.

Types of real estate in Spain: popular, unusual, strange

Eco-houses

It’s difficult to characterize this property into a separate type because it includes many types of real estate. The only difference is its approach regarding construction.

Eco-houses are built using special environmentally friendly materials as well as environmentally friendly construction processes. They are characterized by complex structures and engineering tricks, even up to the placement of windows and doorways.

For example, a house being eco-friendly means one would not need to spend copious resources on heating, whether electric heaters or heating systems. Also, carefully design the ventilation system, layering of the walls, floor height, and window placement. These houses often maintain their own comfortable temperature both in summer and winter.

In addition to this, eco-houses have built-in solar energy systems, water recycling and purification, special insulation materials in the walls of the building, and heat pumps. What’s more, these types of houses have gardens and private plots for planting flowers and vegetables.

When taking all of this into consideration, an ordinary house built according to all of these criteria can easily be many times more expensive than its non-ecological counterpart thanks to the efforts and materials used for the construction.

While eco-friendly houses are environmentally friendly, they are also very expensive.

Unconventional real estate — cave houses

Cave houses are more common in the south of Spain, particularly in the mountainous region in the north of Andalusia — Altiplano de Granada. Usually, this type of unconventional real estate is located between Sierra Nevada and Sierra de Castril.

In these regions, cave houses are typical. For instance, there will be a rock from which the well-constructed facade of a building protrudes. The entrance then leads to a network of rather deeply hollowed-out horizontal caves.

However, this is one of the most expensive types of real estate on offer.

In these cave houses, there are many bedrooms - often up to 8 - many kitchens and other living areas. All the surfaces are made of high-quality materials and the latest technologies. Also, while the living area is large and the temperature is always comfortable, the maintenance of this housing is always minimal.

Because this real estate is usually very far from large settlements, it is worth noting that it lacks the usual urban and even the most basic rural conveniences.

So, to adapt such extravagant and remote housing for a comfortable life, it’s necessary to spend large sums of money and devote a lot of time, energy, and resources. This, in turn, all leads to high costs.

In addition, there are very few of these properties available on the market and are often considered a historical heritage because of this. The limited supply of cave houses coupled with high demand also leads to an increase in prices.

Property like this is can secure a comfortable life for oneself, both financially and in terms of leisure. Thus, on the one hand, it can be bought solely for the sake of owning an extravagant property and on the other, it’s also ideal to make money if rented out to tourists who want to experience living in a cave house.

Types of real estate in Spain: popular, unusual, strange

Conclusion

These are not all the types of real estate that are available on the market in Spain.

For instance, condominiums alone are worth discussing; despite their small number on the market, they are properties with one of the greatest growth potentials in the coming years.

In addition, there are many subtypes of real estate depending on the location and year of construction.

Nevertheless, we hope that this review is useful to you and gives you an idea of what Spain has to offer, both for expats and investors.

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