Villa sales rocket over future lockdown fears in Valencia province

A DESIRE for private outside space when communal and public gardens and pools were off-limits during lockdown has led to a run on detached villas nationwide, and particularly in the province of Valencia where practically every one on the market has been snapped up in the last eight weeks, according to various estate agencies.

Those on sale for a 'reasonable' price – around €200,000, the agencies say – have nearly all gone, and in some towns, demand has multiplied in a way never seen before.

In Nàquera, in the Camp de Túria district to the west of Valencia city, requests to view villas have gone up fivefold since lockdown, and in other, nearby municipalities, townhouses with their own courtyards have also become popular, especially since these tend to be among the cheapest properties.

One estate agent in Nàquera says he has sold 'almost every single detached, semi-detached or terraced house or villa' on his books where their prices were below €210,000 – a total of 50, of which 35 were villas – and only has one villa left to sell, with an asking price of €475,000.

He says his clients have mainly been people living in the Valencia metropolitan area who were seeking a holiday home, having typically spent their summers in hotels but now 'have some money saved up' and decided to invest it in a place of their own to spend their breaks.

In Valencia city itself, the demand for flats or apartments with large terraces or balconies has also rocketed among 'people with savings', so that they have more outside space in case of another lockdown.

Although prices of villas have not risen in the province, several estate agencies say they may well do so in the next few months if any further restrictions on movement have to be applied.

As yet, the Valencia region has escaped the 'semi-lockdowns' applied in other parts of the country, such as the provinces of Huesca (Aragón) and Lleida (Catalunya), and the three provinces of Castellón, Valencia and Alicante have not changed the rules concerning mask-wearing – now compulsory at all times, even where social distancing is virtually guaranteed, in Extremadura, Catalunya, Murcia, the Balearic Islands, Andalucía, La Rioja, Asturias, Navarra, and the Basque Country, even though second outbreaks have largely been localised.

In the Comunidad Valenciana, as in all other regions in the country at present, masks are required in public places in all situations where the wearer cannot guarantee being able to keep a distance of at least two metres from the next person.

Estate agencies in the province of Valencia say they were expecting the national lockdown to cause home-buying to plummet, but that they have been 'stunned' by the 'rebound effect' and how 'the market has gone mad'.

Head of Valencia's College of Estate Agencies, Alfredo Cano, says the trend is 'very general' across the province, especially in inland towns and villages which are some way from the beach, meaning having a garden and swimming pool is almost necessary, and partly because these areas are cheaper to buy property than coastal parts.

“In the Navarrés and Xàtiva areas, with €100,000, you can buy a very decent villa,” Cano reveals.

“It's a great opportunity, because you're also less than an hour away from Valencia city.”

He says nearly all the villas and town houses in the Canal de Navarrés and Xàtiva areas have been snapped up, and agencies there could 'easily have sold another 30% more' if they had had these on their books.

Townhouses in the Canal de Navarrés and Xàtiva areas can come in at around €30,000 to €40,000 and, as Cano says: “People had a really tough time during lockdown and they're now looking for houses with plenty of space inside and out, with at least a patio – and the typical buyer profile is very varied indeed.

“All that's left here to sell right now is a villa with an asking price of €78,000, without a swimming pool, and which needs renovating.”

At the upper end of the market, lockdown and the reduction in income caused by businesses having to close has had little effect on buyer traffic, a property consultant in the province explains.

“People with money will think nothing of spending half a million euros on a house in a good condition – and we've had clients who have found lockdown suffocating and are now seeking a bigger house or apartment with a terrace in case autumn brings another period of confinement.”

Property sale figures for the province, and to a certain extent, the wider region, have remained healthy despite the fact foreign buyers have almost ground to a halt – with borders shut and travel banned in most countries over the spring, holiday-home seekers abroad could search online and make phone calls, but were unable to travel overseas to view properties, meaning any sales to non-Spaniards would have been either to those already living in Spain, or to those who had started the process before lockdown.

More than half the residential property sold in the province of Alicante goes to non-Spanish buyers, the vast majority of whom are not resident in Spain.

The main foreign buyers in the Comunidad Valenciana are British, Italian, French and Belgian, Alfredo Cano explains.

Even in the inland Canal de Navarrés district of the province of Valencia, one in three houses or villas are bought by non-Spanish Europeans, but that even though they have been unable to do so for much of this year, these properties are still almost completely sold out.