There are favourable winds blowing for the housing market and not just for rentals. This situation is reflected in the latest Real Estate Registry Statistics, prepared by the Spanish Land Registry Offices, which shows that the price of housing increased by 9.4% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2018.
According to the study, home sales and purchases between January and March this year stood at 128,990 transactions, up 13.4% year-on-year and 15.3% more than the previous quarter. The Spanish property market hasn’t seen similar sales figures since 2008.
The autonomous communities that recorded the highest number of home sales and purchases in year-on-year terms were Andalusia (24,208), Catalonia (20,756), Valencia (19,876) and Madrid (18,855), while the highest quarterly increases were recorded in the Basque Country (36.27%), Murcia (31.88%) and Navarra (21.43%).
In the last 12 months, 479,475 transactions were recorded, the highest year-on-year increase since the first quarter of 2009. The provinces with the highest number of home sales and purchases were Madrid (72,131), Barcelona (54,462), Alicante (36,447), Malaga (30,530), Valencia (27,609), Balearic Islands (16,211), Seville (15,320), Murcia (14,251), Las Palmas (12,386), Tenerife (11,952) and Cadiz (11,483).
Relative to the number of inhabitants they have, the provinces with the highest number of sales and purchases per thousand inhabitants during the last quarter were Alicante (5.54), Malaga (4.81), Castellón (3.78), Almeria (3.75) and Girona (3.74).
By property typology, 22,229 transactions of new constructions were registered and 37 of the 50 Spanish provinces have increased the number of registered purchases and sales. The largest increases were achieved in Castellón (180.49%), Álava (115.08%), Teruel (69.09%) and Biscay (64.31%). In addition, 28 provinces have achieved quarter-on-quarter increases of double digits or more.
With respect to used housing, 106,691 transactions were recorded, which is the highest figure since the second quarter of 2007. Along these lines of growth, 43 provinces have increased the number of purchases and sales. In this case, the highest growth rates corresponded to Gipuzkoa (38.95%), Biscay (31.95%) and Murcia (30.35%). Also, in 32 provinces, double-digit quarter-on-quarter increases were reached.
The British still lead the way, but Brexit is wreaking havoc
Meanwhile, home purchases by ex-pats fell slightly from 13.6% of the total transactions in the last three months of 2017 to 13.1% in the first quarter of 2018. However, there was an increase in absolute terms due to the increase in the overall number of transactions, since in the fourth quarter of 2017 there were about 15,000 and from January to March 2018 there were 16,500.
The ranking of the nationality of buyers remain in their standard positions. The British are still at the top of the table for the biggest foreign buyers in Spain with 14.6%. "This figure is very low and the cause is Brexit,” says the Land Registry Office, “as this percentage is only one third of the sales there were of Spanish homes to Brits before the United Kingdom decided to leave the European Union."
Second and third place go to the Germans (7.9%) and French (7.6%), respectively. In the last year, ex-pats have been behind nearly 63,000 home purchases in Spain.
Specifically, the provinces with the greatest weight of purchases by non-Spaniards during the first quarter of the year were Alicante with 41.05% and Tenerife with 40.78%.
After these two provinces, with results of around 30%, are the Balearic Islands (31.72%), Malaga (30.57%) and Girona (26.94%). Together with Alicante and Tenerife, they are the five provinces with the highest results in terms of the weight of home purchases by ex-pats in recent years, with higher results than the rest of the provinces.
Snapshot of the mortgage market
Mortgage debt per home increased moderately by 0.2% during the last quarter, reaching 121,123 euro, an increase of 3.4% over the same quarter of 2017.
Fixed-rate mortgages remained stable, still making up 37.3% of new mortgage loans, while variable-rate mortgages stood at 62.7%.
Ibiza, from mega-luxury to shanty towns: the housing crisis gripping the island
Ibiza has two faces. On one side, the Ibiza of mega-luxury: vast, exclusive nightclubs and dream-like villas. On the other, an Ibiza of shanty towns and housing exclusion. It's no longer news that soaring property prices are forcing people to leave the island because they can no longer find homes at affordable rents.
The 10 most expensive cities to live in Spain in 2025
If there’s one clear trend in Spain’s housing market, it’s rising prices, both for buying and renting. While the rankings of the most expensive cities remain relatively stable, the cost of living in them is becoming increasingly out of reach.
Tini Menorca, the award-winning prefab home on the Balearic Islands
Discover this prefab home perched on a hillside, surrounded by pines and Menorcan ullastre trees, offering an unrivalled panoramic view of the Mediterranean.
What to keep in mind before buying a prefabricated home in Spain
More and more people are considering a prefabricated house as their next home in Spain. These properties are typically built faster than traditional homes and often come with fixed prices and no hidden costs.
Five Torremolinos plots released for over 200 subsidised homes
Torremolinos City Council has launched the sale of five municipal plots, covering nearly 11,500 m², for the construction of over 200 publicly subsidised homes (VPO). According to Málaga’s Councillor for Urban Regeneration, Marina Vázquez, only 100 VPO units have been built in the past 30 years, making this initiative an “important step” towards improving access to affordable housing for many families in this Málaga town. The total value of the plots is close to €9 million.
Urgent property sales in Spain
Buying property in Spain is a dream for many, but the process can often be time-consuming and expensive. With summer now in full swing, there’s no better moment to secure your perfect home and start enjoying the sunshine right away. Luckily, urgent property sales offer a quick and cost-effective way to find fantastic deals within days or weeks.
Spain solidifies its lead as Europe’s top real estate market in 2025
The European real estate market is set to enter a phase of moderate recovery in 2025 after two years of correction, with Spain emerging as one of the best-positioned countries to benefit from this new cycle, according to the Global Trends and Tactics Q1 2025 report by Nuveen Real Estate.