Where is the best place to buy property in Spain 2023? Wherever you choose, take a careful look at how Spanish house prices are evolving and where you are likely to pay more. The average price of pre-owned housing in Spain rose by 7.3% year-on-year in March 2023, according to the latest price index from idealista, the southern European real estate marketplace. After the report on autonomous communities, provinces and capitals, we are going to analyse the evolution of prices in the towns with more than 20,000 inhabitants with the most expensive house prices in Spain, where only 5 of the country's main cities appear: Donostia-San Sebastián (5,191 euros/m2), Barcelona (4,063 euros/m2), Madrid (3,935 euros/m2), Palma (3,531 euros/m2) and Bilbao (3,174 euros/m2). Let's have a closer look at the most expensive places to buy a house in Spain in 2023.
Above the capital of Gipuzkoa are 6 municipalities, almost all of them in the Balearic Islands and in particular on the island of Ibiza, ranging from 5,330 euros/m2 in Sant Antoni de Portmany to 6,295 euros/m2 in Sant Josep de Sa Talaia, the most expensive in this ranking. In between, two other areas on the island of Ibiza are Santa Eulalia del Río (6,224 euros/m2) or the capital Eivissa (5,359 euros/m2), as well as Calvià (5,553 euros/m2), in Mallorca, and Zarautz (5,458 euros/m2), in Guipúzcoa.
In total, the top 50 towns (with more than 20,000 inhabitants) with the most expensive homes in Spain are distributed among 10 provinces, with the greatest representation in Barcelona (11), the Balearic Islands (10) and Madrid (8), although Malaga (5), Guipuzcoa and Las Palmas (4 each), Alicante and Vizcaya (3 each), together with Cadiz and Santa Cruz de Tenerife (1 each) also appear.
The main annual rises were recorded, however, in other different localities, except in Sant Antoni de Portmany, which once again appears with the highest increase in the list with 34.3% year-on-year. This time, it is accompanied by 2 municipalities in the Canary Islands: La Oliva, in Fuerteventura (Las Palmas), with a 27.2% increase, and Adeje (Santa Cruz de Tenerife), with a 23% increase.
Between 15% and 20% increases in house prices can be found in 9 Spanish towns, where Estepona (19.3%) and Marbella (18.6%), both in Malaga, Conil de la Frontera (18.3%), in Cadiz, and Tres Cantos (15.8%), in Madrid, stand out. In addition to all these municipalities, another twenty of them have seen the market value of their homes rise above the national average, by 7.3% at the national level.
Only 3 towns on this list have seen prices fall compared to March last year. They are Getxo (-1.1%), in Vizcaya, and the Barcelona towns of Molins de Rei (-2.2%) and Gavà (-3.8%).
Another reading that can be highlighted from this ranking of the most expensive municipalities in Spain to buy a house is that 20 of the 50 areas reach the highest prices in the historical series of idealista. So, in addition to the already known Madrid (5.2%) or Palma (11.3%), record prices are also reached in Sant Josep (13.4%), Calvià (16.7%), Marbella and its 4,138 euros/m2 or also the island towns of Alcúdia (3,677 euros/m2), San Bartolomé de Tirajana (3,436 euros/m2), Adeje (3,436 euros/m2) or Mogán (3,301 euros/m2), in both archipelagos.
But the maximums are not only reached in these towns in the provinces of Malaga, the Balearic Islands and the two Canary Islands provinces. Jávea (2,914 euros/m2), Altea (2,667 euros/m2), Calpe (2,645 euros/m2), all 3 in Alicante, and Boadilla del Monte (2,900 euros/m2), in Madrid, will reach their price ceilings at the end of the first quarter of 2023.