Is it a good time to To buy a floor or is it better to wait? As for the rental, to do? The prices they will have to go down some day, right? One of the rights guaranteed by the Constitution It is the right to housing, but in Spain it is increasingly difficult to get one and only 17 out of 100 young people between the ages of 16 and 28 live outside the family home, according to the Spanish Youth Council (CJE). What’s wrong? It can be fixed?
We interviewed the director of studies and spokesperson for the real estate portal pisos.com, Ferran Fontto ask about all these aspects, about the differences in the purchase and rental market in the big capitals and in medium-sized cities or the rural environmentdue to the occupation of homes and other issues related to the sector.
–Is it a good time to buy a home or better to wait a bit?
–It depends a lot on the needs and possibilities of each one: if you are looking for a first or a second residence. In any case, if the evolution of the main markets is analyzed with perspective, even though they tend to increase in price moderately, for now we do not see falls in value. Furthermore, in the short term, interest rates will get worseso that getting a mortgage will be more expensive. If a family is looking for a home, finds something that suits them by area, price and characteristics, and can access a mortgage under conditions that are more or less favorable, it is a good time.
–But many find it difficult to access a mortgage or, directly, they cannot…
–The ones that have savingsnow they pull them, and those who would have a hard time agreeing to pay that 20% that the mortgage does not cover, can go to the rental market, wait 2-3 years to buy and trust that interest rates return to 2%.
–The market shows the first signs of a slowdown and the number of sales of flats is expected to drop. Will prices stabilize or even drop in the coming months?
–The volume of transactions tends to normalize and between now and the end of the year it will moderate, but we are coming from figures –640,000 transactions over the last 12 months– that have not been seen since the housing bubble. 2021 closed with 560,000 transactions. Now it will start to fall, but that does not mean that it is a symptom of a great slowdown, but of normalization. If they fell by 10%, we would repeat the figures for 2021, which was a good year, and prices will moderate. Or the growths will be much smaller. There will be no falls because there is an important investment demand. In the big markets there is not only a lot of demand, but there is little offerand that does not allow prices to end up falling.
–And in the smaller or rural markets?
–In small markets, without so much demand, the price will drop. The rural environment, small and medium-sized cities, do not have such an active demand due to the fact that their training offer, idleness and labor is not usually very prominent.
–What are the main requirements of potential buyers when buying a property?
–We have returned to the historical requirements. During the Covid preferences changed: the requirement that grew the most was balconies and terraces. We went from looking for location, price and characteristics, to looking for open spaces. People wanted to leave the big capitals, but the rural market had no capacity to respond to this demand. There weren’t that many houses on the mountain. Now we no longer telework as much as before and the concentration returns to the big capitals. The main requirements are again price, location and features: square meters, finishes, more or less work to be done.
–With less purchasing power and the rise in the Euribor, many citizens have no choice but to discard the purchase and opt for renting or staying in the family home…
–The rental market is going through a difficult time. First, due to the reduction in the rental offer, since during the Covid there was a transfer of vacation rental to the medium term. Now the reverse effect has occurred and has even gone further. So that the housing stock is smaller and there has been a rise in prices. Due to the little existing offer, it offers few options.
–How much have the rents gone up?
–Rents have risen close to 3% and the forecast is that they will continue to increase at a lower rate (2%). On the one hand, due to the unstable situation, the fact that we have a reduced housing stock, the inflation and to a lower ability to pay. On the other hand, because the big capitals have a balance of offer and demand unbalanced.
–In the big cities it has risen even more…
–The rental market will continue to be heterogeneous: in large capitals, such as Madrid, BarcelonaValencia, Malaga or Palma de Mallorca, prices have skyrocketed 15-16-17% and the trend is that they continue to increase much more than the rest.
–So, is it time to get into a 5-year lease?
–If I need a home, yes, because the forecasts in the big cities speak of rising prices. Therefore, from my point of view, it is a good time to rent if I live in a big city and I have no alternative to buy. I would search with great impetus and without wasting time. Because in the end, the demand in the rental market makes well-located homes highly sought after.
–Come on, renting is not easy either…
— We return to the situation of apartment for rent and queue of potential tenants in an afternoon. The biggest problem is the price increase and the struggle to find rental housing. And this situation harms those who have a more precarious economic situation, because the owner is looking for a solvent tenant.
–One of the rights guaranteed by the Constitution is the right to housing, but in Spain it is increasingly difficult to obtain one…
–The difficulty of access to housing by the population and, above all, the most vulnerable, is the main challenge of the real estate. How can we make it easier for the younger generations to emancipate themselves? It is a complex problem. We also talk about ability to pay, wages, more permanent contracts, etc. Facilitating access goes through a regulation that has more political consensus, a consensus that the new housing law that they want to approve lacks — the PP has already said that it will not apply it in the communities in which it governs. Limit the rental price or promote houseswith a stable regulatory framework, involves generating a larger housing stock, especially affordable public rent.
–The Spanish youth emancipation rate, which is below the European average, stood at 16.75% in the second quarter of 2021…
–They have been seen expelled from the real estate market. Their economic situation, their lack of savings, does not allow them to buy or rent a home on their own. 70% are emancipated for the first time sharing a flat. If they emancipate later and later, it leads to a social and economic problem.
–What does housing occupation mean for the real estate sector?
–It’s a problem. An occupation is a drama, from the point of view of families in situations of helplessness. On the other side, an occupation means that there is an owner whose rights are not respected. private property rights. Some feel helpless and say: ‘to have a flat and have it taken from me, I put it up for sale’. The occupation makes the market more stressed and rents have higher prices. It is one of the great challenges of the sector.
–What advice would you give to a homeowner to prevent them from getting into your home?
— Apart from closing everything that can be closed, I would tell you not to promote your Vacations through the social media; have some activity in terms of lights; trying to make a house unattractive by being empty for many weeks; and so on. If I am an owner and I want to rent, try to rent my home to people who transmit reliability and meet all the requirements.