The Spanish real estate market is on the rise. After a tough 2020 marked by the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, the economy picked up again in 2021. One of the main reasons for this was the good momentum of the real estate sector, which returned to pre-covid-19 figures in both rentals and sales. Under this pretext, and with positive forecasts for 2022, it is more important than ever to plan all purchase and sale operations well in order to make the investment as profitable as possible as soon as possible. Knowing where to invest and the steps to follow well in advance will save you more than one headache.
The Secretary General of the General Council of the COAPI, Lola Alcover, explains that, "when buying a property, there are numerous factors that come into play, however, there are three that are most important". The first of these is to define what the buyer's real needs are, including the type of property, its location and the services it offers. Then it is important to give the same value to the economic possibilities available, both for the initial disbursement and for the debt, which it is advisable never to commit more than 30% of the income.
"It will be necessary to carefully check that they meet the established requirements and also that they meet all the necessary conditions of legal security, which is very important if we do not want to risk unpleasant and problematic last-minute surprises," adds the expert.
Which cities are most interesting for investment?
"If you are looking to buy a property to put the it on the rental market as an investmentand obtain the highest possible return," explains Alcover, "you will have to be in those areas with higher rental price ranges."
This profile includes regions such as Barcelona, Madrid, the Basque Country (the provinces of Álava, Biscay, and Gipuzkoa), the Balearic Islands, Malaga, and Seville. Within these regions, the central areas of the city centre tend to have the highest rental ratios. "Although, of course, one cannot ignore the fact that in these areas the sale price of homes is among the highest, which means that the initial investment to be made will be greater," he warns.
Foresight and planning, key factors for buying property
When planning an investment, the expert reminds us of the importance of calculating the real value of the property, i.e. the value that the market is willing to pay today for that property in that same place. "To find out the real value of the property we are interested in, either we carry out a market study ourselves that will give us the figure we need to know, or we put ourselves in the hands of a professional expert in the field, who knows the state of the market at all times, and there is no one better qualified to do this than a Real Estate Agent", she continues.
As far as forecasts are concerned, it will also be crucial to find out whether the price of land will vary in the coming years in order to know whether the investment will gain value in the future. "Based on these parameters, and knowing how to handle them with the expertise required to carry out a reliable study of the future, we can obtain a forecast of how the price of the property in which we are planning to invest will evolve", he explains.
Despite this, Alcover emphasises that the "uncertainty factor" must always be taken into account, as it is unlikely that all the points of the forecasts will always be fulfilled and other circumstances that have not been considered will come into play.