The Spanish real estate market again showed interesting figures at the end of the first quarter of this year. The first thing that catches your eye is that prices continue to rise, primarily in large cities, although at a more moderate pace than in 2022. Malaga is once again in the spotlight.
The secondary housing market of the country is growing in prices. For the first quarter at the national level, prices increased by about 2.9% by the fourth quarter of 2022, according to the real estate portal Idealista. The square meter has reached exceeded the mark of 1,940 euros. In annual terms, prices increased by 7.3% across the country.
Malaga, on the other hand, grew by 3% from quarter to quarter, and by 13.9% over the year (13th place in the country). A square meter here now costs 2,850 euros. These are record growth figures for the region. Idealista points out that Malaga has no competitors in the country for this indicator. The Balearic Islands, the closest rival, grew by 11.8% over the year, while Alicante and Cadiz grew by 11% and 10.8% respectively.
Nevertheless, in absolute numbers, Malaga still has a lot of room for growth. The most expensive residential property at the beginning of the second quarter was located in the Balearic Islands, 3,746 euros per square meter, followed by Gipuzkoa (3,392 euros) and Madrid (3,111 euros). Next comes Malaga itself, and Vizcaya (2,721 euros) and Barcelona (2,679 euros) are breathing down her back. The cheapest province in Spain was Ciudad Real with 758 euros per square meter. Nearby are Cuenca (776 euros) and Jaen (822 euros).
Francisco Inarreta, a spokesman for Idealista, notes that neither rising interest rates nor rising prices seem to scare buyers away from the market. At least foreigners are still easily compensating for the decline in local demand. He points out: "Our data show that a significant part of buyers already own real estate and come to the market for additional purchases, that is, they have significant savings for this".
Inareta adds that despite a slight drop in the number of transactions, the country's housing stock is still small. There is a shortage of supply on the market, but because of this, prices continue to rise upwards. Also, do not forget that with the growth of interest rates on lending, the number of borrowers, as well as the volume of new loans, begin to decline. Therefore, some banks are already thinking about how to start returning at least some of their customers, if not with low rates, then with some additional conditions.
Idealista experts do not foresee "sharp drops" in any indicators of the Spanish real estate market in the coming months, although they do not deny that volatility is present. The largest and most dynamically developing cities, such as the capital Madrid, Malaga and Alicante, are the strongest.
Metropolitan provinces are also on the rise
In general, as for the capitals, excluding the stagnation in Barcelona, we can see a steady increase in prices in almost all major cities of Spain. In Huesca, the quarterly growth was 8%, in Teruel, Murcia and Soria - 5.8%, 5.7% and 5.4%, respectively. In Valencia, the price increase was 4.7%. Next are Malaga (2.2%), Palma (2%) and Seville (1.4%). Madrid also saw an increase of 1.4%. Noticeably smaller growth was recorded in Zaragoza (0.4%) and Bilbao (0.2%).