Spanish house price growth buoyed as buyers look further inland to granada
New low cost flights and cheaper properties are luring buyers away from the most expensive provinces according to Spanish property portal Kyero.com.
Prices have risen by nearly 130% in the last decade, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation & Development, and settled to 10% in 2006.
Kyero.com, which features almost 75,000 properties from over 500 independent agents, collates user and property information from its website every month to produce a Spanish Property Price Guide. The report found that average prices have remained steady, with a national average of €246,279 for 2006 (a 1.7% decline compared to the national average price in 2005 of €250,589).
The two most expensive provinces of 2006 are still Madrid and Barcelona, with the Balearic Islands of Mallorca, Menorca and Ibiza retaining their top position. The most popular provinces of Malaga, Alicante and Granada both fell slightly (but still mid table) and the cheapest province in 2005, Jaen, has been replaced by Cuenca at €65,333.
Granada has now beaten the traditionally popular provinces of Alicante (Costa Blanca) and Malaga (Costa del Sol) into the top slot as most popular province of 2006. Average property prices in Granada are around 36% cheaper than the national average (€157,608 compared with a national average of €246,279). This, combined with the influx of budget flights from the UK to Granada airport, may have attracted more buyers, said Kyero.
The next most requested provinces were Tarragona in Catalonia, then Murcia, Almeria and Valencia on the eastern coast. "There is a lot of new build and property development being undertaken in these areas and cheap airlines are introducing flights to local airports, making these parts of Spain easily accessible for Britons (Reus airport for Tarragona, and to Murcia airport, Valencia airport and Almeria airport)," said Kyero. "Interestingly, Barcelona is one of the least requested provinces; maybe the high price tag averaging at €578,458 may have put off potential buyers?"
Focusing on the average property price in 2006 for the three most requested provinces, Kyero found that the province of Granada saw steady price increases in the last half of 2006 (Aug – Dec) rising 10% from €155,000 to €165,000. In contrast, Malaga province experienced a decrease of over €26,000 at the end of the year, an 8% decrease from November to December 2006. Alicante on the Costa Blanca saw prices drop from Jan – Jul 2006 reaching a low of €214,000 in July. However, prices rose steadily to €236,900 by December 2006
Source: Overseas Property Professional