New-build home values rise to 'pre-crisis levels'

NEW-BUILD residential property rose in value in 2017 by more than any time in the last decade, according to the Surveyors' Society, with major cities such as Madrid and Barcelona seeing prices reach pre-financial crisis levels.

A typical 90-square-metre property in a provincial capital city, which is likely to be a three-bedroom apartment, would now cost an average of €200,400, having increased in value by around 5% this year – or €2,227 per square metre.

The Property Industry Trends 2017 report by the Surveyors' Society says Catalunya is the region with the highest prices, at €3,452 per square metre, followed by Madrid at €3,167 and the Basque Country at €2,596.

And the lowest prices in the country for new builds are in Extremadura, at €1,148 per square metre; Murcia, at €1,206 per square metre, and La Rioja, at €1,355.

Barcelona is the most expensive city now to buy a newly-constructed home, costing €3,865 per square metre, followed by San Sebastián in the Basque Country at €3,441 and Madrid at €3,167, whilst the cheapest cities to buy a new build in are Badajoz (€1,155), Cáceres (€1,138) and Ciudad Real in the dead centre of the mainland (€1,160).

New properties went up in value by 1.7% in the first six months of the year and then price growth doubled in the final six months, reaching 3.3%.

Barcelona city trebled this, with increases of 9.9% over the course of 2017, whilst Madrid's third- and fourth-quarter rise combined came to 6.8%.

The Surveyors' Society says these increases in value for newly-constructed homes have not been seen since 2007, when property prices hit highs never seen before or since and just over a year before the economic crisis struck.