In 2022, Alicante became the leader in the degree of activity in the Spanish real estate market. It was the province with the largest number of residential real estate sales in the country in proportion to the number of residents of the region. The triumph of Alicante allowed the region to return to first place in the ranking, taking it back from Malaga — its main competitor, especially in the segment of tourist housing.
The achievements of Alicante are reflected in the latest statistical yearbook from the Association of Real Estate Inspectors. The document confirms an exceptional year for the region and indicates the significant role of foreign demand in the growth of indicators. In 2022, almost 50,000 home sales transactions were registered in Alicante, which is an increase of 37.9% year-on-year.
It is also the third largest in the country in terms of total transactions. The province is second only to Madrid and Barcelona with 83,400 and 66,500 transactions, respectively. However, this is not surprising. In the metropolitan region and the Catalan province, the population is several times larger than the number of people living in Alicante, so the absolute figures will be higher.
The situation with transactions per capita is different for Alicante. In 2022, 25.99 housing sales transactions per 1,000 residents were registered. This is almost twice the national average of 13.8 transactions per 1,000 residents. This is also much higher than in Madrid and Barcelona, which showed 12.22 and 11.76 transactions per 1,000 people, respectively. In Malaga, 24.12 housing deals were concluded for 1,000 people.
Liquidity
Such indicators of market activity are often used as a way to measure the liquidity of the sector, that is, how easy it is to sell real estate in a particular region. This is an extremely important parameter for areas of the country with a highly developed secondary housing market, as high liquidity shows sellers the periods when it is worth selling, and investors — where to invest.
Prices
As for prices, a square meter of housing in Alicante cost an average of about 1,600 euros in 2022. This is 5.8% more than was recorded in 2021. Nevertheless, Alicante remains a relatively cheap market for the purchase of residential real estate, because the average for the country last year was almost 1,950 euros.