Looking for a home to buy in the main Spanish cities has become a desperate gymkhana. Just the fact of being able to visit a worthwhile apartment is a major achievement. The competition between potential buyers, due to the lack of supply, is such that a new model has germinated: the house is sold to whoever pays the most. “Owners set an initial price, but when they receive multiple offers they tend to opt for the best one, which is generally the highest. The most in-demand properties tend to be apartments of up to 100 square meters with two or three bedrooms,” says Ricardo Sousa, CEO of Century 21 Spain and Portugal. The citizens who live—and suffer—this new real estate cycle no longer haggle, but rather On the contrary: in order not to miss out on the home, they offer between 5% and 10% above the set sale price, says Jesús Duque, vice president of Alfa Inmobiliaria. Although these dynamics are occurring in homes of all levels and prices, in the luxury market the willingness to pay more is evident. “In the case of high-profile international buyers or investors, we have seen increases of up to 10% or 15% on the original sales price in luxury properties or in highly sought-after locations,” comments Leonardo Cromstedt, president of Keller Williams Spain. & Andorra. This is what happens when there are several people who want the same home. “There are buyers who already overbid, they are tired of running around and not finding anything,” says José María Alfaro, president of the National Federation of Real Estate Associations (FAI). Fernando Rico, agent at Re/Max Urbe in Madrid, adds: “When you find a home that fits what you want and you lose it by not deciding or by making a low offer, you learn to make the decision sooner.”In these Potential buyers, given the avalanche of visits that houses receive when they go on the market, create a feeling of loss of opportunity and some end up making offers above the advertising value. Many times that sensation is real because after a few days the floor disappears. “Last week I called one that had just come on the market and when I got to speak to the agent he told me he already had 25 showings scheduled for the weekend. On Monday I called and they told me that they sold the 80 square meter apartment in Doctor Esquerdo (Madrid) on the third day for 440,000 euros,” says Ana Marcos, who has been looking for an apartment without success since 2020. For now, this way of buying and selling does not work. It is neither massive nor widespread, but it is beginning to spread due to the lack of supply and a demand that is increasing, and which is expected to be greater next year as a result of the drop in interest rates, which which increases the purchasing power of buyers. In the case of real estate agencies, “no more than 10% work like this, with these management protocols,” says Alfaro.
20,000 euros
In the offices of Alfa Inmobiliaria they tell a recent case. “A house of about 90 square meters in the center of Malaga that went on the market for 400,000 euros and was sold for 420,000 after receiving several offers in a few days,” explains Duque. Another similar sale: “In a peripheral area of Madrid, where a property worth 250,000 euros was purchased for 270,000 euros because one of the buyers was especially interested in that specific location, close to his workplace,” he adds. The Re agent /Max Urbe acknowledges that it is not very common, although “this year we have had the case in two properties.” One corresponds to an apartment to be renovated: “36 visits were made in three days and six offers were received, two of them above the marketing value. The owners opted for the client who was going to use it as a habitual residence.” The brand Keller Williams, specialized in luxury, tells of her experience. “Recently, in our Marbella office, a luxury property that was listed at €1.2 million was reserved within 48 hours and three buyers came to bid above the original asking price. The property ended up selling for 1.35 million.” Another example is that of a home on the coast of Fuengirola, where an American buyer made an offer 15% higher than the published price. Average sales times in Spain have been shortened this year — they range between 30 and 60 days. — and the top-rated homes are flying. “The average in Barcelona is 66 days and in Madrid it is 61,” says Lázaro Cubero, Director of Analysis at the Tecnocasa Group. In this chain, 7% of the 15,000 houses sold each year are placed in less than a week. Many of these buyers request financing, and even more so now with the lower rates, although it can be a negative point if the seller has a lot of money. hurry. “Buyers who require a mortgage usually have less agility compared to those who can buy without the need for financing,” says Sousa. The breeding ground for these voluntary oversupplies is a never-before-seen deficit between supply and demand. The number of homes available in the main Spanish cities is decreasing and, on the other hand, the number of people looking for a home continues to increase (new construction at a minimum, migration, investors, international buyers, difficulties renting…). “This occurs mainly in Madrid, Barcelona, the areas with a more buoyant economy on the Mediterranean coast and the main provincial capitals, where the imbalance can reach up to 30%,” says Duque. At Tecnocasa they have detected that demand has grown 46% compared to last year. In 2023 there were 16 buyers per home and this year 20, numbers that skyrocket in the case of Madrid (from 29 to 37) and Barcelona (from 20 to 26), explains Cubero.