Property market growth of over 18% forecast for this year

Its property sales wing, Servihabitat, says the factors driving forecasts of how residential home purchases evolve over the coming year include demand, ease or otherwise of obtaining mortgage finance, increase or decrease in investment interest and the pace at which new developments gain planning permission.

Andalucía, Catalunya and Madrid are expected to be the regions which show the highest percentages of property sales over the course of 2018, says Servihabitat, mirroring results from 2017, although the greatest market growth was seen in the central region of Castilla-La Mancha, at 23.8% and the northern community of La Rioja, at 23.1%.

New builds are losing ground to second-hand homes in terms of sales, with the latter accounting for 75%, Servihabitat's figures reveal.

Seven in 10 residential properties sold last year were priced at less than €150,000, and just over a third of homes which changed hands were between 30 and 90 square metres in size, showing that the smaller, cheaper first-time buyer flats or apartments were those most likely to shift.

The type of property most in demand in 2017 was a three-bedroomed house or flat, if it was for a main residence, or with four bedrooms if it was for a holiday home.

As at the close of 2017, Servihabitat reveals that a total of 76,800 new builds were under construction, a figure it predicts will have increased by 22% by the end of 2018, rising to 93,600.

The analysts forecast that the number of new developments completed by the end of this year will rise by around 20% on 2017, which saw a rise of 27% on the previous year.

By the close of 2018, a total of 61,300 new homes started will have been completed, Servihabitat says.

It forecasts a reduction of over 16% in the number of new builds never lived in which are on the market based upon last year, where empty homes up for sale fell by around 26%.

By the close of 2018, Servihabitat predicts that the number of newly-built homes which have never had an owner and are still up for sale will have fallen to around 243,000.

Greater increases in home prices are also forecast – 4.7% for 2018, up from 4.5% in 2017, although this will vary by region.

The highest property price rises are expected in Madrid, at around 7.5% on average, followed by Catalunya at 7% and the Balearic Islands at 5.6%.

Renting will continue to grow in 2018, as it did last year, says Servihabitat – as at the close of 2017, the number of properties available for rent had fallen 14.5% in 12 months, to a total of 97,900.