Pure positive numbers from the Costa Blanca property market

It has been said before, and we keep on doing it. In general, the Spanish property market still has some issues to solve, while Costa Blanca could be soon named Costa Booming. Only the 5 biggest cities in Spain (Madrid, Barcelona, Sevilla, Valencia and Zaragoza) had more property sales than Torrevieja in 1st quarter of 2014. With Torrevieja’s 927, Alicante’s 829 and Orihuela’s 809 Costa Blanca is very well represented in this statistic.

Prices

In the first 8 months of 2014 the property prices in the Valencia region have had the biggest increase in Spain. With an increase of 3,2%, the region is moving to a strong direction. Costa Blanca is improving positively going forward as a locomotive. In August the prices in Alicante (Costa Blanca) went up 2,2%, while the Valencia province presented 2,1% and Castellon increased 0,6%. The square-meter price on Costa Blanca for a resale property is 1,338 €.

At the same time, there are still regions in Spain, that are suffering from prices decrease in the second quarter of 2014. This is a very clear example that the Spanish property market should not be seen as a whole picture, but be dug in deeper to understand.

Torrevieja

In 1st quarter of 2014 Torrevieja townhall received 451 building applications. It is 3 times more than 2013 with 133 for the same period. The higher activity in general in Torrevieja has lead to 2,000 new jobs. The townhall is expecting around 1,000 building applications for 2014. These numbers might not seem as a lot, but taken into consideration that each application does not necessarily mean that 1 property will be build from 1 application, but could be up to 300, the number of new build properties is indeed very high.

What does all this mean?

Looking at price indexes it is important to be aware that average prices takes time to move. We saw it very clearly in 2nd half of 2008, where the prices dropped 30% within a few months. The average indexes said that prices only were 2% lower, and all experts said that the prices should go down at least 30%…

Should you jump on the first plane to Spain for buying that property you have always dreamed of ? Not necessarily. Buying a property in Spain is something you shall do when you are ready. Though you should be aware that the prices might be higher next year.