New construction housing will rise 18.4% in Spain
The report shows that the volume of finished homes in Spain will close 2019 with an increase of 23.4%, equivalent to more than 79,000 projects, the highest figure recorded in the last six years, although the completion and delivery of new construction will grow 18.4% in 2020, with more than 94,000 projects completed, a figure not seen since 2013.
It also estimates a volume of homes started 115,362 homes, 14.9% more this year, to moderate the increase to 8.5% next year.
The Community of Madrid (+ 25.2%), together with Andalusia and Catalonia, are the regions with the highest volume of homes started for this year and the next, with La Rioja, Cantabria and Ceuta and Melilla at the other end. In the area of ​​the promotion of habitual housing, it perceives greater activity in the larger populations, especially in capitals such as Madrid, Barcelona, ​​Valencia, Seville and Malaga.
As for the sales, he points out that in the last quarters they have exceeded 130,000, something that has not occurred since 2008. In this sense, he estimates that housing transactions will increase by 6.1% at the end of 2019, reaching More than 623,000 operations.
This upward trend will continue for 2020, but more moderately, to almost 650,000 transactions, representing an increase of 4%. Andalusia, Catalonia and the Valencian Community are the autonomous communities that present a higher volume of sales for next year.
There is also a slight increase in the average time of sale of the real estate, going from the 6.1 months registered in 2018 to the current 6.5 months in the case of habitual housing, and the 7.2 months of 2018 at 7.9 months in 2019 for holiday homes.
As has been the case in previous periods, more than half of the usual homebuyers (60%) in Spain are between 36 and 45 years old, while this percentage is reduced to 54% in the case of holiday homes. Thus, the average age of the homebuyer in Spain grows, going from 38 years to 38.7 today.
Similarly, the volume of housing stock also continues in a downward trend, although it does so below the figures presented by Andalusia: 2019 will close with a decrease of 3.8% (445,225 homes) and the decrease in 2020 will be 3.5% (429,525 units).
Residential rental
The study also reflects that Spain continues to approach the European Union average (31%) in terms of the percentage of the population that resides in rent, with 23.7% in 2018, a figure that stood at 21.2% in 2014 and 22.9% in 2017. Together with Sweden and Denmark, Spain is the third most advanced country in the last year.
The volume of rental homes currently available in Spain is lower than the one existing a year ago, 16.1% less, which is due to the strong demand of the population, and the consequent reduction in supply. As of September 2019, the number of homes was 87,770 in Spain and 14,600 in the Community of Madrid.
In any case, the volume of rental homes available in Spain will be maintained in the future at a minimum of 70,000 homes annually. The current figure represents 1.9 homes per 1,000 inhabitants and 4.7 per 1,000 households.
Until the end of June, 2.3% more sales have been made by foreigners in Spain, with a total of 93,952 operations, representing 16.4% of the total sales of homes produced in the country.