The second half of 2022 and early 2023 were tense in the Spanish real estate market. Back in December, housing prices rose by 5% year-on-year. The policy of the European Central Bank (ECB) provoked an increase in mortgage rates. The Idealista real estate portal has updated its rating of the 100 most expensive municipalities in Spain with the highest demand from buyers.
Idealists' analysis focused on the cities where new sales announcements were published in the last four months of last year. There were over 1,300 ads, on average from 1,100 euros per square meter, and over 155 ads for renting housing.
The most expensive are located on the Mediterranean coast
Idealista said that the Mediterranean areas of Spain played an important role for the local real estate market. Cities and other locations in these areas consistently top the lists of the most famous places to buy a home. They were like this in 2022 and will remain so in 2023. Thus, only one city was excluded from the 15 most expensive cities in the Mediterranean in the Idealista rating. This is Adeje, one of the most successful real estate markets on the island of Tenerife in the Canary Archipelago washed by the Atlantic Ocean.
The Balearic Islands and the provinces of Malaga and Alicante stand out in the rating, especially the Malaga city of Benahavis, which again topped the list. The average price of local residential property exceeded 1.86 million euros, which was a record in the market. Benahavis is also home to the most expensive house for sale in the country — a villa of 3,500 square meters for 34 million euros. Another interesting point in the price increase is the fact that there are 17 cities in the country with an average housing price of more than half a million euros.
The cities that have surpassed this mark are Sotogrande, San Cugat del Valles, Yavea, Llucmayor, Altea, Avissa, Sitges, Palma de Mallorca, Adeje, Castelldefels, Estepona, Calpe and San Sebastian. Calvia and Marbella have reached the millionth threshold. The average price exceeded 1,570,000 euros in the first month, and it almost reached 1,320,000 euros in the second month. In this comparison, the figures of some cities, such as Madrid or Barcelona, may surprise — 410,000 and 362,000 euros, respectively. The average price is 310,000 euros in Bilbao, and it is almost 250,000 euros in La Coruna.
According to Idealista, Santa Paula is on the other side of the rating. This city is the cheapest in the country — its price is about 152,000 euros. Ourense and Oviedo are a little more expensive — 155,000 euros. In general, the top ten cheapest destinations are Oviedo, Jerez de la Frontera, Torrevieja, Murcia, Parla, Salamanca, Burgos and Dos Hermanas. Their prices vary from 155,500 to 163,000 euros.