Property
S pr pa op in’ in er s b En ty es gl ma t ish g
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Making the Pueblos white, see page 16
AUGUST 2022
ESCAPE TO THE COUNTRY
PIC CREDIT: Villas & Fincas
Rural property sales soar to 53% above 2011 lows, writes Mark Stucklin
S
PANISH country property sales were close to alltime highs in the first quarter of the year, according to the latest data from the National Institute of Statistics (INE). There were 43,650 rural property sales in Q1, up 11% on the same period last year and 8.4% higher than 2019. It was the highest level of quarterly sales since the boom year of 2007. Country property sales have been steadily climbing since they bottomed out in 2011 with just 103,609 rural land sales that year, down from a peak of 192,302 in 2007, a decline of 46%. By last year rural property sales were up 53% compared to the
trough of 2011. However, country property sales have really taken off in the last few quarters in the wake of the pandemic, with growth near or above double-digits in most quarters. Most rural property sales in Spain are located in the three biggest regions of Castilla y Leon, Andalucia, and Castilla – La Mancha. Along with the Valencian region they make up 58% of all rural property sales in Spain. If you look at the quarterly change in sales (year-on-year) in a selection of regions and provinces of most interest to foreign investors, you see the biggest growth in sales in Q1 came from the Catalan provinces of Barcelona (+40.5%) and
Tarragona (+32.1%). This reflects a pandemic-related displacement of demand away from urban areas to rural areas with good access to city centres and transport hubs. Industry insiders report that rural property sales are being driven by lifestyle changes in the light of the pandemic, and some also mention a growing interest in rural real-estate as an inflation-proof asset offering a self-sufficient lifestyle.
Mark Stucklin is the owner and editor of property website www.spanishpropertyinsight.com