Property market commentator Nigel Lewis has told A Place In The Sun magazine that demand and prices for homes in Spain have begun to rise again.
Lewis cites prime international property agent Engel & Volkers, which sold over 1,000 properties in Spain last year, a 77.6% increase on 2013.
He goes on to explain the connection between the Spanish property market and that in the UK. “They’re connected because it is British property equity (and mortgages) that continue to pay for purchases in many parts of the Costa del Sol, Murcia, Costa Blanca, Almeria, Costa Brava and the Balearic islands,” he says, and that 17% of all sales in the major tourist areas of Spain in 2014 were to the British.
“Prices in Spain have yet to regain their pre-2008 financial crisis levels, although regional results vary,” says Lewis, though he points out that it is in the tourist areas where prices will catch up fastest. He points to Andalucia, Murcia and Valencia (Torrevieja, Alicante, Altea, Javea, Peniscola) as areas where property is, on average, about 20-25% down on the pre-crash level.
Lewis highlights the Canary Islands and Costa del Sol as the areas where demand is now strongest, up 20% and 6% respectively year-on-year.
