If you’ve been following our reports for Costa del Sol property, you’ll understand the market has been on an upward trend in 2021 which translates to rising sales and prices. Recent details for January 2022 reaffirms this tendency, but how will the market perform for the rest of the year?
Read on for our pick of the most well known real estate trends on the Costa del Sol for 2022.
Falling inventory
The newest details for sales of property on the Costa del Sol points to a busy market. In the earliest eight months of 2021, some 20,600 properties changed hands. This numbers represents a 40% hike on the same period in 2020, an increase that we must put into perspective. It’s true that most of the months between January to August 2020 were topic to Covid restrictions with minimal mobility. So, it’s no surprise to see a 40% increase.
But we must compare like with like and turn to numbers for January to August 2019. In those eight months, 20,526 sales took place on the Costa del Sol, very slightly under those for this year. The conclusion? Sales are back (and ahead of) pre-pandemic levels.
Details from August 2021 reflects the same trend. This high-season vacation month tends to be quieter in the real estate world, but not this year. 3,246 sales took place, on a par with those seen in 2007 and 2008.
At The Property Agent, we’re experiencing this real estate trend on the Costa del Sol directly. The choicest properties in our listings are currently spending very small time on the market, leaving would-be buyers annoyed. And with the global travel gates wide open once again, we don’t see this tendency dropping off at all this year.
If you see a property you like, the right time to buy it is now! Search for property for sale in Spain.
New builds rule the market
New-build properties on the Costa del Sol offer bigger properties with higher quality finishes than resales and those two feature are currently in high demand. Since the beginning of 2021, the new-build market has took ahead of the resale in terms of sales and prices.
In August 2021, there were 1,072 sales of new properties on the Costa del Sol. The monthly numbers is the highest since 2013. With plenty of demand still in the main, we believe that this trend too is set to continue for 2022.
Rising prices
Like sales, property prices on the Costa del Sol are moving quick. According to Tinsa, in Q3 they went up by 10.7%, the second-highest numbers in Spain in areas popular with foreign buyers. Only the Balearics posted a higher number (11.9%).
Localised number also tell solid increases for Costa del Sol real estate. For example, Idealista details shows that Marbella and Estepona were the two areas in Spain with the highest price hikes above the last two years.
Marbella took 4th, 6th and 7th positions in the top ten in the country. Property prices in Nagüeles skyrocketed by 42.1% between August 2019 and August 2021, with properties in Las Brisas and Bello Horizonte experiencing hikes of 38.1% and 34.1%, respectively.
Estepona stood in 8th position in the table. In the Guadalmansa area, real estate prices rose by 33.8% in the two years.
High demand and falling supply mean that prices are not likely to come down in the near future.
Cheap mortgages
The Euribor, the European Central Bank benchmark for Spanish mortgage interest prices, first dropped below 0% in March 2015. Since then, it has hovered below zero and in mid-October this year, the Euribor 12-month price stood at -0.467%, its lowest ever.
Low interest prices make for inexpensive mortgages, much cheaper in this case and unsurprisingly, property loan approvals have went up continuously throughout 2021. The latest details from the Spanish Institution of Statistics (INE) reveals that mortgages went up by 36.8% in the year to July. Furthermore, the loans were for larger amounts – €136,527 was the average, 3.8% higher than July 2020.
There has probably never been a better time to take out a mortgage in Spain.
Find your property on the Costa del Sol
At The Property Agent, we’re aware that today’s market is a tough one for buyers, but we also know that with the right agent in the right place, you’ll find the property to move you. Let us help you find your property in the Costa del Sol.
