The problem of buying a house in Spain is no longer just its price. Is that you have less than 73 days to decide

Two and a half months. Something less even. In a real estate market marked by the mismatch between supply and demand and in which Operations increase of sale that is what lasts on a home in available: two and a half months, 73 days To be more precise. A few years ago that data exceeded the 90 days. They are just that, figures, raw data, but they act as a thermometer of the sector.

In fact there are cities, especially those that have tension markets, in which the deadline is even lower.

A market for fast. In Spain the real estate market has its peculiaritiestrends and Factors susceptible to interpreting in different ways, but of course something is clear: they buy the fastest. He last report Prepared by Technocasa and UPF, it shows that, on average, in 2024 only 73 days were needed to sell a home.

The data is interesting for several reasons. First because it is two days less than in 2023. Second, he delves into a trend that dates back to the beginning of the decade, when the properties took average for more than three months to find a buyer. In 2020 the average was 94 days.

Beyond the average. 73 is a statistical indicator, the average of sale for the whole of Spain. If we go down to detail and consult the segregated data at the territorial level we verify that there are locations in which the period in which sales are closed is considerably shorter. In Barcelona that average was only 68 days, in Valencia of 67, 66 in Malaga, 62 in Seville and 61 in Bilbao. The market in which the properties last The Madridwhere the brand is in just 60 days.

A market, two realities. The report of Tecnocasa Group and UPF Also verify that not all properties run the same fate in the market. According to their data, 55% of homes have been selling less than half a year. Moreover, almost 37% is announced on online platforms and real estate agencies for just three months.

In the opposite pole, almost a quarter of the properties (23.6%) have been available for a year or longer. One of the keys could be its overvaluation. The report estimates that in the most ‘veteran’ homes it exceeds 18%.

Why is it important? From what he tells us about the market. The authors of the report verify a clear mismatch between the demand, upwards, and an offer that thinns. Two data arrive to check. While 2024 closed above the 266,000 active purchase applications, which is 80,000 more than during the same period of 2023, and the number of potential buyers grew by 39% in December, the housing offer has moved in the direction opposite The Technocasa and UPF report estimates that it fell 9.3%.

“A boiling market”. The study calculates that if in an area with a 5,000 -homes real estate park there was an average of 70.9 properties for sale in the late 2023, a year later that data was significantly lower: it was already around 64.3. The result, points to The country José García Montalvo, Professor of Economics, is “a boiling market”.

“What we are seeing is that demand is squeezing much more than the supply, which is still insufficient,” emphasize The UPF expert. Another of the keys that help to understand the market is access to financing. The study detects an interannual increase in the average amount of mortgages, which is added to other indicators on credit. For example, registrars of Spain It carries several months verifying a sensitive increase in mortgages.

“It’s a real casting”. The phrase is again from García Montalvo and summarizes the reality of the Spanish real estate market, at least as drawn by the Technocasa and UPF report. “The properties have hardly time to appear in the listings before multiple offers compete for them in an authentic casting,” Comment The expert.

In a similar line, the director of Analysis of the Tecnocasa Group, Lázaro Cubero, Explain that last year there was “a very important demand increase.” “A 39% increase in a single year is not usual,” duckin reference to the increase of potential buyers that the report detected with respect to December 2023.

The other indicator: prices. The time it takes for a home to find a buyer is not the only clue that tells us about demand and supply. There is another even more eloquent indicator: prices. After calculating the measure of a selection of cities, the Technocasa report indicates that in the second semester of 2024 the M2 stood at 2,802 euros, 12.13% more than during the same period of 2023.

The report is also interesting for another reason. Its technicians estimate that the price in the second semester of 2024 was more or less at levels of mid -2005, but still far from the dimensions that were reached during the real estate bubble, between 2006 and 2007.

In recent weeks Some experts They have pointed out that the M2 would have already exceeded the 2007 values, although everything indicates that the Sorpasso It focuses only on nominal prices, not real. That is, this calculation obviates the effect of inflation.

Does it happen only in sales? No. The sales rate will be increasingly agile in the sale market (at least among the properties not excessively overvalued by its vendors), but pales compared to the tempos of the residential rental market. At the beginning of 2024 idealista calculated that 18% of homes They were leaving in their portal did not last 24 hours free.

Moreover, in some cities the percentage of homes with a fleeting step by real estate was even greater: in Tarragona they were 31% and in San Sebastián 29%.

Images | ZHIYUAN SUN (UNSPLASH) and Jonas Denil (UNSPLASH)

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