Lucas Fox Spanish Real Estate Market Analysis 2019: Barcelona South Coast

Market Analysis: Barcelona South Coast 2019

After two general elections in nine months, Spain now has its first ever coalition Government, made up of the Socialist Party (PSOE), headed up by Pedro Sánchez, and Unidas Podemos with its leader Pablo Iglesias. The new coalition will hopefully bring some level of stability after a fairly turbulent year politically and will be addressing political, territorial and social dimensions, which could be challenging but could see some positive outcomes.

Read our full analysis of Spain’s property market here

Sitges

Average Sales Prices – Sitges

Bucking the national trend of price rises, average property prices in Sitges showed an annual decrease of 2.9% in December 2019, ending the year on €3,660 per square metre. Prices rose in the neighbouring areas of Gavà and Vilanova i la Geltrú, however, where prices averaged €3,002 per square metre (5.6% increase) and €1,960 per square metre (1.4% increase) respectively. Since December 2014 prices in Sitges have gone up by almost 14%. Those in Gavà and Vilanova i la Geltrú have risen by almost 27% and just over 16% respectively. (Idealista, resale property prices)

Average Rental Prices – Sitges

Average rental prices in Sitges have remained steady, ending the year on €13.4 per square metre. (Idealista)

Volume of Sales – Sitges

Again, bucking the national trend, the number of transactions in Sitges in the first nine months of 2019 (495 sales) showed an increase, of almost 34%, compared to the same period in 2018 (370 sales). Compared to the first nine months of 2014 (302 sales) the number of transactions has risen by almost 64% and it is now also surpassing the number of sales around the peak in the first nine months of 2007 (301 sales), an increase of almost 65%. (Ministry of Development, Spain)

New Homes Sales – Sitges

Sales of new homes in Sitges represented almost 27% of the total number of sales in the first nine months of 2019, a larger proportion than in the same period in 2018 (8.6%). The proportion is also larger than in the first nine months of 2007 when just over 22% of the total sales were for new homes. (Ministry of Development, Spain)

Gavà

Average Sales Prices – Gavà

Average property prices in Gavà registered an annual increase of 5.6% in December 2019, ending the year on €3,002 per square metre. Average prices in the neighbouring area of Vilanova i la Geltrú also showed an increase, of 1.4%, ending the year on €1,960 per square metre. Gavà property prices have increased by almost 27% since December 2014. (Idealista, resale property prices)

See graph above in Sitges

Average Rental Prices – Gavà

Average rental prices in Gavà showed an annual increase of 3.7% in December 2019, ending the year on €14.6 per square metre. (Idealista)

Volume of Sales – Gavà

The number of sales transactions in Gavà in the first nine months of 2019 (350 sales) decreased by 8.9% compared to the same period in 2018 (384 sales). Compared to the first nine months of 2014 (207 sales) the number of transactions has risen by just over 69% but it is still 15% below the number of sales in the same period in 2007 (414 sales). (Ministry of Development, Spain)

See graph above in Sitges

New Homes Sales – Gavà

Sales of new homes in Gavà represented 4.9% of the total number of sales in the first nine months of 2019, a smaller proportion than in the same period in 2018 (6.8%). The proportion is smaller than it was in the first nine months of 2007 when 18.6% of the total sales were for new homes. (Ministry of Development, Spain)

Vilanova i la Geltrú

Average Sales Prices – Vilanova i la Geltrú

Average property prices in Vilanova i la Geltrú showed an annual increase of 1.4% in December 2019, ending the year on €1,960 per square metre. Average prices in the neighbouring area of Gavà also showed an annual increase, of 5.6%, ending the year on €3,002 per square metre. However, average prices in the nearby town of Sitges registered an annual decrease, of 2.9%, ending the year on €3,660 per square metre. Prices in Vilanova have gone up by just over 16% since December 2014. (Idealista, resale property prices)

See graph above in Sitges

Average Rental Prices – Vilanova i la Geltrú

Average rental prices in Vilanova i la Geltrú showed an annual increase of 5.7% in December 2019, ending the year on €9.4 per square metre. (Idealista)

Volume of Sales – Vilanova i la Geltrú

The number of sales transactions in Vilanova i la Geltrú in the first nine months of 2019 (630 sales) decreased by 19% compared to the same period in 2018 (778 sales). Compared to the first nine months of 2014 (315 sales) the number of transactions has doubled but it is still almost 23% below the number of sales in the same period in 2007 (815 sales). (Ministry of Development, Spain)

See graph above in Sitges

New Homes Sales – Vilanova i la Geltrú

Sales of new homes in Vilanova i la Geltrú represented 14.9% of the total number of sales in the first nine months of 2019, a significantly smaller proportion than in the same period in 2018 (25.1%). The proportion is also notably smaller than it was in the first nine months of 2007 when almost 40% of the total sales were for new homes. (Ministry of Development, Spain)

Barcelona Province

Volume of Sales – Barcelona Province

Looking at Barcelona Province as a whole, the number of sales transactions in the first nine months of 2019 increased by almost 74% when compared to the same period in 2014, rising from 25,007 to 43,498. However, year-on-year the number of sales transactions in the first nine months of 2019 registered a slight decrease, of 2.3%, and it is still 17.5% below the number of sales in the same period in 2007 (52,706 sales) (Ministry of Development, Spain)

New Homes Sales – Barcelona Province

Sales of new homes in Barcelona Province represented 7.7% of the total number of sales in the first nine months of 2019, a similar proportion to the same period in 2018 (7.4%). However, the proportion has reduced significantly since the first nine months of 2007 when almost 30% of the total sales were for new homes. (Ministry of Development, Spain)

Prime Sales – Barcelona Province

Latest official data shows that the number of prime market sales transactions (over €900,000) in Barcelona Province in the first six months of 2019 (for which data is available) increased by almost 21% compared to the prime sales in the same period in 2018, from 245 to 296 sales. The number of prime sales in the whole of 2018 (529 sales) was up by 82% compared to the number of prime sales in the whole of 2014 (291 sales). (Ministry of Development, Spain)

Value of Sales – Barcelona Province

The total value of sales transactions in Barcelona Province in the first nine months of 2019 (€8.98 billion) registered a 3% increase when compared to amount of trading in the same period in 2018 (€8.71 billion). Compared to the first nine months of 2014 (€4.17 billion) the total value of sales transactions has more than doubled but it is still 38% below the total value in the same period in 2007 (€14.37 billion). (Ministry of Development, Spain)

Tourism & Foreign Buyers, Barcelona

The number of passengers arriving at Barcelona airport in 2019 was almost 52.7 million, an increase of 5% over passenger arrivals in 2018. (Aena)

International tourism in Catalonia in the first eleven months of 2019 increased by 0.8% over the same period in 2018, with the region hosting almost 18.4 million international visitors. (INE)

Foreign buyers in Barcelona Province accounted for 9.6% of the total sales in the third quarter of 2019, a slightly larger proportion than in the third quarter of 2018 (8.8%) and larger than the proportion in the whole of 2012 when they accounted for just over 6% of all buyers. (Spanish Land Registry)

Lucas Fox Sitges Buyer Profile

Lucas Fox Gavà Buyer Profile

Lucas Fox Vilanova i la Geltrú Buyer Profile

Note the following figures are provisional:

INE (Tourism) (from January 2019)
Ministry of Development, Spain (from Q3 2019)

View Lucas Fox Spanish Real Estate Market Analysis 2019: Spain

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