Confidence climbing in Spain and Portugal

Confidence is climbing both Spain and Portugal, as agents enjoy rising demand and improving prices.

The March 2015 RICS/Ci market review revealed that confidence among Portuguese professionals climbed once again, as the index hit another record high. The positive sentiment is fuelled by strengthening market fundamentals, with sustained increases in both enquiries and sales, as well as house prices improving modestly in each of the last three months - a stark turnaround from almost five years of falls.

The mood is bright across the border too. A new Spanish Property Market Confidence Index (SPMCI) from Kyero reveals that on a national level 71 per cent of agents in Spain felt more confident about Spanish property in Q1 2015 than they did compared to a year earlier. Only 4 per cent felt less confident.

The survey covers 160 English-speaking and 216 Spanish-speaking estate agents across Spain. English-speaking agents are more bullish about the state of the market than their Spanish counterparts, thanks to the boost given by the favourable exchange rate with the pound.

"The strength of sterling has played a key role in the confidence divide that we are seeing currently between English-speaking and Spanish-speaking real estate agents in Spain," comments Martin Dell, Director of Kyero. "Some 30 per cent of English-speaking respondents have highlighted stronger sterling as the most significant change over the past 12 months.

 

"For Spanish-speaking agents, increased marketing tops the table of significant changes, with 26 per cent of respondents flagging this up as the biggest change."

 

The findings reveal the stark difference that currency exchange fluctuations can have on similar businesses in the same country. While English-speaking agents in Spain have been able to enjoy more confidence in the market thanks to the pound's movements, their Spanish peers have been working flat-out on promotional activity in order to achieve the same goal.

 

Interestingly, both sets of respondents reported similar figures when it came to buyer confidence, with 20 per cent of English-speaking agents feeling that improved buyer confidence had been the most significant change over the past 12 months, compared with 21 per cent of Spanish-speaking agents. 

 

Four geographical areas stood out as inspiring the most confidence in agents. The first of these was Almeria where a three bedroom, two bathroom villa just minutes from the beach can be picked up for around €175,000.

 

Fuerteventura, the second largest of the Canary Islands, also stood out as inspiring above-average confidence in agents. Property there offers excellent value. A two bedroom, two bathroom apartment in Corralejo, for example, can be purchased for just €77,000.