Asking prices in Ibiza are 88% higher than in 2010, followed by Marbella, up 63%. At the other end of the scale, prices are still more than 25% lower in Murcia city.

I’ve been looking at how asking prices have changed since 2010 in a selection of cities of interest to foreign buyers. 2010 is a nice round number from which to compared decades, though still a few years before the market started recovering in 2013.

In the cities I look at in the graph above asking prices are still below where they were in 2010 in five cities – Alicante, Valencia, Tenerife, Girona, and Murcia, and less than 10% higher in Barcelona and Las Palmas.

Only in Ibiza (+88%), Marbella (+63%) and Palma de Mallorca (+49%) have asking prices increased significantly over the last 12 years.

Why have asking prices increased so much in Ibiza and Marbella, and in Palma to a lesser extent? Undoubtedly because these are hotspots for upmarket foreign demand, where the supply is limited by the lack of space in the case of Ibiza, and urban planning paralysis in the case of Marbella.

Despite all the talk in Barcelona about the housing crisis and measures to suppress the cost of housing like rent controls, asking prices in the Catalan capital are only 9% higher than they were 12 years ago. In real terms (inflation adjusted) house prices have fallen since 2010.

In the following chart you can see how asking prices have evolved since 2010.