Since the irruption of the pandemic, the outskirts have gained prominence for the Spanish real estate investor. Real estate analysts believe that metropolitan areas located away from the centre of our large cities are much more in demand since the coronavirus arrived on the scene. Currently, it not so important to live in the centre of a large city; nowadays, the space and the location of the house has much greater value. The world has changed abruptly due to this health crisis and thus, the homebuyer demands a new housing model. Apparently it is a fact that craving to live in the centre of a great city, as was the tradition, is not in vogue any more. If we analyze the facts and figures shown by the Colegio de Registradores de España in relation to the fourth term of 2020, we see that only 31% of the properties that were bought in our country were located in a provincial capital. What is striking is that during the second term of last year the number of houses bought in provincial capitals amounted to 35,4% and in scarcely six months a drop of four points took place, which is really outrageous. This emphasizes the fact that, after the confinement, real estate investors value the suburbs much more than before.

A SPEEDING-UP OF THE TREND

Many experts insist on the fact that the commitment of investors in seeking property in the outskirts already existed before the pandemic, although to a lesser degree than at present. In other words, the coronavirus has not led to a change of trend in our real estate system but it has caused this tendency to speed-up. An example of this could be detached houses, about which we wrote in this blog. In that article we said that in our country this type of housing is on the rise because the homebuyer profile has changed since the pandemic. The Colegio de Registradores reminds us that in Spain in 2012 the detached house market accounted for 15% of the total, whereas in 2019 it was of 18%. However, if we look at the year 2020 the amount rises to 22%, a fact which confirms an acceleration in the trend of seeking property away from the city centre. Therefore, we can say that since the outbreak of the coronavirus, the purchase of houses in the outskirts of the cities are more and more in demand. This fact has led many real estate agents to shift their search to places far from urban centres.

RETREAT IN MADRID AND BARCELONA

Madrid and Barcelona are always regarded as the thermometer to measure the pulse of the current situation of our real estate market, thus providing interesting data. In the capital city, there has been a backward movement of property sales during these last four years. In 2017, in the city of Madrid, the completed transactions represented 53,1%, whereas in 2020 they amounted to 42,7%. On the other hand, in Barcelona the backward movement during that same period reached nine points. If we focus on the year 2020, we will see that a total of 41 provincial capitals finished the year with a drop regarding sales operations. This fact gives us clear proof of the growing interest, shown by investors, in the outskirts of the cities. Some years ago it was inconceivable to walk along the centre of Madrid without seeing in nearly every building posters advertising the sale of flats. This detail helps us get a better idea of how everything has changed since the emergence of the pandemic. It remains to be seen whether the demand of real estate in large cities will return or if the investor will continue to bet on the suburbs.

Picture 01: Zarateman