This is a website for buyers, owners, and sellers of property in Spain, offering reliable information and resources to help you get things done with confidence. It is run by Mark Stücklin, author of the Spanish Property Doctor Column in The Sunday Times (2005-2008), and the book ‘Need to Know: Buying Property in Spain’ published by Collins.
Mark StücklinNew data from a property portal suggests it’s taking longer to sell a home in Spain compared to the end of last year.
The Spanish property portal Idealista publishes data on how long listings stay online at its website, updated every six months. They assume that listing times are a proxy for how long it takes to find a buyer. There are lots of reasons why listing times don’t equal the time on market but it does give you an idea of how long it takes you to sell a home in Spain, and it’s the best approximation I know of as far as the available data goes.
According to the latest data from Idealista, which relates to listing times in June, 12% of properties countrywide were online for a week or less, 44% of listings were taken down within three months, whilst 21% were online for a year or more. In other words, you could say that 12% of homes find a buyer within a week, and 44% of homes sell within three months of being put on the market.
In regions of most interest to foreign buyers (data refers to provincial capitals), homes go fastest in Malaga (60% in three months), followed by Barcelona (57%), Girona (50%), Alicante (46%), and Tenerife (44%). Sales were slowest in Palma (26% gone in three months) and Madrid (also 26%).
Time on market getting longer
If you compare the data from December 2022 with the latest for June, it looks like it’s taking longer to find a buyer all over Spain, including in areas of most interest to foreign investors. The table and chart below show the percentage change in the the proportion of homes sold in each period for a selection of regions. When the proportion declines (negative percentage change in red) then listing times are getting longer.
Listing times are longer in Palma de Majorca and Madrid than anywhere else. In Madrid, the percentage of properties sold / listings removed within one week declined by 84%, whilst the decline for sold within a year declined by 33%. In Palma, one-week listings declined by 74%, whilst listings removed within a year declined by 38% (meaning the proportion of homes still on the market after a year increased). Malaga and Alicante held up the best with a decline of just 3% in the proportion of homes sold / delisted within a year.
Listing / sale times getting longer suggest it’s getting harder to find a buyer for property in Spain at current price levels.
