New building regulations came into force last Friday that triple the statutory level of sound proofing built into new homes in Spain. This will make new homes built from now quieter to live in, but more expensive to build.

The new regulations increase acoustic insulation levels from 42 to 50 decibels, but are expect to drive up the cost of new homes by between 0.3% and 0.6%.

Unfortunately, much of the desirable property that Spain is ever going to have has already been built, so many of the properties you might want to buy will not have much sound proofing. Shame that, considering what a noisy country Spain can be.