Average budget in Andalusia is 126,000€
According to a report “Experience of Purchase/Sale of Housing in Spain in 2017” carried out by fotocasa, the average budget set by a home buyer was 173,000€. The budget varies by autonomous community: in Madrid the average is 212,000€. In Catalonia it is 206,000€. The average budget in the Basque Country is 191,000€. In Valencia it is 146,000€, while the average budget in Andalusia is 126,000€.
The buyers’ budgets also vary slightly from the average asking price. The national average asking price was 180,000€, but again, this varies from community to community: in Madrid the average asking price was 226,000€. In Catalonia it was 220,000€. The average asking price in Valencia was 140,000€. In the Basque Country is was 220,000€, while in Andalusia buyers asked for the same amount as the average buyers budget, 126,000€.
There is a clear difference between the home buyers’ budgets and the sellers asking prices. The national averages show the seller asks for around 4% more than the average home buyer wants to spend. The difference is more acute in the Basque Country where the seller wants 15% more than the buyers budget. Madrid and Catalonia see selling prices on average 7% higher than the buyers budget. In Andalusia we see that supply and demand is more balanced as both buyer and seller have the same budget. In contrast, in the Valencian Community the starting price for the private seller is 4% below the average budget.
“Catalonia, the Community of Madrid and the Basque Country are the most expensive regions to buy a home, which explains why in these areas buyers and sellers have budgets that are higher than the average for the rest of the country. This also explains that while 40% of active buyers in the last year in Andalusia and the Valencian Community set an initial budget of between 50,000 and 100,000 euros, in the case of Catalan, Madrilenian and Basque buyers practically the same percentage established an initial budget of 100,000 to 200,000 euros”, explains Beatriz Toribio, director of studies at fotocasa.
75% of Spanish buyers looking for a primary residence
Almost 75% of Spaniards attempting to buy a property in 2017 were looking to purchase a primary residence. If we look at the data by autonomous communities we see that in Catalonia and Madrid the majority of buyers were looking for a primary residence (80%, 79% respectively).
Additionally, of those people looking for their permanent home 46% of buyers were looking at apartments. However, in the end just over half the buyers (55%) purchased an apartment making it the most sought-after property type in Spain.
Those looking for a penthouse make up only 10% of buyers, against only 5% who ended up buying one. This is the case in Catalonia where 13% looked at a penthouse but only 4% of purchases were for this type of property. In Barcelona those looking for a penthouse made up 16% of buyers but only 1% closed a deal.
Location
77% of buyers searched for a new home in the same city in which they currently reside. Almost 70% of buyers ended up buying in the same town.
This also differs by community. In Catalonia those looking to purchase in the same town amounted to 65% of buyers, with 66% closing a deal. In Madrid there is a greater proportion of buyers seeking a new property in the same town. 81% of buyers wantes to stay where they are. 77% managed to achieve this.
