New-build home values rise to 'pre-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.