According to the data of the Spanish real estate portal Fotocasa, over the past year, the secondary real estate market in Spain has risen by an average of 8.4%, which is the highest achievement since 2007. The average cost per square meter in the country is € 1900, which is comparable with 2012 when this figure was € 1906. About 80% of residential real estate sold in Spain, refers to the secondary market, due to the shortage of new buildings and inflated prices for them.

Current price situation

The rise in housing prices in almost all of Spain, except for Asturias, has been observed for 30 consecutive months, although each autonomy has its own pace. They turned out to be the highest in the Balearic Islands, where only 5% is missing to the level of 2007.

Meanwhile, in the overwhelming majority of the rest of the country, prices are still very far from the pre-crisis values. ​On average, they are 35.6% cheaper. The record in the residential real estate sector of Spain was recorded exactly 12 years ago and it was € 2,952 per square meter.

Now from all the Spanish provinces, the cheapest housing to buy is resale property in Extremadura (€ 1108/sq. m), Castile-La Mancha (€ 1141/sq. m), Murcia (€ 1164/sq. m), and La Rioja (€ 1402/sq. m). The top three are still Madrid (€ 2976/sq. m), the Basque Country (€ 2810/sq. m), and the Balearic Islands (€ 2617/sq. m). The most expensive district continues to be Madrid Salamanca (€ 6176/sq. m).

Big Cities and Secondary Real Estate Market 2019

Among the capitals of the Spanish provinces, Girona became the leader in terms of the growth in prices for housing in the secondary market in the first quarter of 2019 – its rate is 10.5%. Huesca is in second place with a growth rate of 5.9%, and Pontevedra is in third place with 4.9%.

In Malaga, housing prices in the first three months of the year increased by 2.7%, and in Palma – by 2.2%. In Madrid, the growth rate was only 1%, while in Barcelona prices remained at the same level.

The maximum drop in housing prices for the specified period occurred in Cuenca, where the cost per square meter decreased by 3.9%. This is followed by Soria, where prices fell by 3.5%, Lugo with a fall of 3.1%, Ourense – 2.7%, Teruel – 2.6%, and Valladolid – 2.1%. Housing prices also declined in Malilles (-1.9%), Cáceres (-1.6%), Ceuta (-1.3%), and Zamora (-1%).

San Sebastián became the most expensive Spanish city for home buying – the price per square meter is € 4,335. Barcelona is on the second place (€ 4217/sq. m), Madrid is on the third (€ 3721/sq. m), and Bilbao is on the fourth one (€ 2910/sq. m). The most affordable housing is in Avila (€ 996 sq. m).