Barcelona is leading Spanish property price growth in 2017, according to new figures.
Tinsa’s latest data shows that the Catalonian city is enjoying the strongest capital growth in the country, with prices up 21.7 per cent in the second quarter of the year, compared to the same period in the year before. The city’s strong growth significantly outstrips the national average climb of 2.7 per cent year-on-year.
The closest cities to enjoy such a strong price increase were Alicante (12.9 per cent), Madrid (10.8 per cent), Viga (10.2 per cent), while the capitals of Castellon, Toledo and Leon led annual declines, with losses of 12.6 per cent, 9.4 per cent and 5.6 per cent respectively.
The stronger price growth is fuelled by a faster moving housing market, as the city draws both local buyers and overseas investors to an area buoyed by a strong economy and a thriving tourist industry. Indeed, the average time it takes for a home to sell in Spain is 9.5 months, as of the second quarter of the year. In Barcelona, on the other hand, it takes just 3.6 months to sell a home, behind only Madrid (3.4 months). The result are buzzing conditions for Barcelona real estate. The district of Ciutat Vella, for example, saw values rise 35.7 per cent in the last year alone.
Despite this improvement, Spain’s recovery remains uneven: there are still markets where price adjustment after the financial crisis has not finished and show lower prices than the same period of the previous year. Overall, prices are 39.2 per cent below the 2007 peak.
According to Tinsa’s national index for June 2017, prices rose 2.3 per cent year-on-year. Capitals and large cities led the way with a rise of 4.6 per cent, ahead of Metropolitan Areas (4.2 per cent).
Prices also rose 1.9 per cent and 1.5 per cent on the Mediterranean Coast and the Balearic and Canary Islands respectively. Areas with smaller populations, though, saw prices decrease 2.6 per cent.
In addition to Barcelona, the Balearics and Canaries have shown “great dynamism” in the first half of 2017, says the valuations firm, with a 7.2 per cent increase in house prices in the six months to June, just ahead of the Capitals and large cities, which have seen their values rise 5.2 per cent.
