Wealthy buyers choose Spain

LUXURY house prices in Spain shot up by seven per cent in the first half of 2017. They now average €6,500 per square metre according to a report from French company Barnes.

That is more than four times the price of the average Spanish property. The massive rise in the price of luxury is especially pronounced on the country’s coastal expatriate hotspots.

The Mediterranean stretch from Cadiz to Barcelona is both a hive of luxury homes, and the place were mansions, villas, and grand estates sales are performing especially well.

The situation is mirrored on the Balearic Islands. Mallorca, which boasts four of Spain’s top ten most expensive properties, registered a ten per cent increase.

Spain’s twin cosmopolitan cities, Madrid and Barcelona, clocked up an increase of more than 10 per cent in luxury housing. In particularly dynamic neighbourhoods, rates of almost 20 per cent were registered.

Barnes International in Spain executive Emmanuel Virgoulay said that Spanish real estate is “experiencing its best moment since the economic crisis”.

With the market enjoying greater security, investors in luxury housing now trust Spain as a country with highly profitable assets”, he said.

Sellers are also finding it easier to find wealthy buyers willing to splash out on luxury homes. In popular coastal areas, homes priced at more than €1 million are frequently selling in less than three months.

Barnes also found that French investors buy the fastest, usually within two months and visiting the property only two to four times. Brits take three months and five visits. The Chinese are the slowest, taking an average of nine months and 15 visits to make a decision.