The beginning of 2023 marked important changes for the real estate sector. There have been a number of events that force us to be very attentive to what will happen to the market in the coming months. However, a number of concerns disappeared, which predicted a serious drop in the first months of the new year. The emergence of a "bubble" in the residential real estate market in Spain is now considered one of these disappeared risks.
In 2022, inflation turned out to be a record for the last decades, the same was the increase in interest rates. Along with the general instability in the economy, including the energy sector, real estate sales in Spain stagnated, as well as prices. This was noticeable at the beginning of 2023, when two main Spanish cities, Madrid and Barcelona, recorded a drop in prices. Nevertheless, already in March it becomes clear that the fall was not radical and the market continues to grow in many directions.
For example, housing from the secondary market in Spain refrained from falling and was even able to show an increase in prices by 0.1%, to 1,922 euros per square meter. The market is certainly experiencing a slowdown, but there is no sharp drop. Moreover, according to Idealista, such a price in January is an increase of 5.4% compared to January 2022.
A steady decline can be expected during the year
If we focus on the major cities and provincial capitals of Spain, the situation will be twofold. For example, in Madrid, prices decreased by 0.2%, to 3,929 euros per square meter. In Barcelona, prices decreased by 0.3%, to 4,050 euros per square meter.
In other parts of the country, you can find a more pronounced drop in prices. For example, in Palma, the drop was 3.3%, the drop in Almeria was 1.6%, in Pamplona, a drop of 1.5% was recorded, in Ceuta — by 1.4%. In Ourense and Cadiz, the drop was 1% and 0.7%.
There are also places with the opposite situation, as reported by OkDiario. In the first month of 2023, there was an increase in housing prices in 23 Spanish capitals. The most noticeable increase occurred in Cuenca — 3%. It is followed by Huesca (2.4%), Segovia (1.9%), Murcia (1.4%) and Girona (also 1.4%).
The highest prices were in San Sebastian, which is not the first time. At the end of January, a square meter of housing in this city cost 5,124 euros. The cheapest square meters were in Avila, where the price reached 1,078 euros per square meter. Next to it are Jaen and Lleida — 1,083 and 1,087 euros per square meter.