Dear friends,
Being constantly active in the Real Estate market requires us to speak to a wide range of people every day. Buyers, sellers, contractors, cleaning staff, building concierge staff, notaries and lawyers etc. All these conversations help us form our view of the market; what clients need, what they think they need, how the property market responds to their needs, what the politicians are planning next, what are the latest trends in design and materials. Sometimes even we are surprised how much we can learn from a simple conversation with a construction firm or a concierge person.
However all this market chat is full of anecdotes and needs to be taken with a pinch of salt. Every player in the property market has their own agenda and they will try to convince us that they are right and we should follow their advice. We trust our own instincts and we always try to find the relevant data to back up our views. Only when the market chat, our instinct, and the data are aligned we know that a market trend is confirmed.
This is why the latest survey produced by Idealista confirmed the market trend of higher prices in buying and renting, something we saw and felt for the last couple of years at least. In the first 6 months of 2023 the Spanish Real Estate market is as hot as it has ever been. The demand to buy properties is higher than the average of 2022, which in turn was higher than 2021. The inventory of available houses is getting smaller and smaller, currently at the lowest of the last three years and an impressive -25% since 2021. And guess what happens to prices when there is more demand and lower inventory of supply. The only way is up!
Things are not very different for rentals. Demand to rent a property is above 2022, which was above 2021. The situation for the inventory of rental properties is even worse than for buying, there are 50% less available units across Spain since 2021. As for prices? Same as with buying, more demand and less supply has led to higher prices. To be exact the average rental property in Spain is now 20% more expensive in comparison to 2021. Caveat emptor that’s the average, in the major urban centres like Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Malaga it’s even more expensive.
At Artemis Assets we knew this was happening and we have been telling our clients for a while. If you believe in the fundamentals and trust our market instinct, please reach out to us with your investment requirements. We have a network of people and good data to guide you.
Until the next one!
