The global real estate market is booming. Our country is no exception and in Spain investment in housing is speeding up, driven mainly by foreign funds. What is the case of our island? Is it a good idea to buy a house in Ibiza in 2019?
Bearing in mind that the real estate market has been on the rise for five consecutive years (600,000 purchase transactions were closed in 2018 compared to 300,000 in 2013) and that real estate prices have grown by 5% in Spain as a whole, Ibiza is experiencing an intense revaluation of these, as well as in large cities. This is due, as in other insular and coastal territories, to the low interest rates (which will remain at least until the end of this year), the great attractiveness of Ibiza in all senses and the recovery of confidence in the real estate market.
According to David Martínez, CEO of AEDAS Homes, “2018 will be remembered as the year in which the housing market set course, definitively, towards normalisation, understood as moderate growth, both in prices and sales as well as in the pace of construction, the three great fundamentals”. On the other hand, the strong increase in rents in the last two years is allowing very attractive returns, over and above what other financial products can offer. Ibiza thus becomes an option to consider if you want to buy a house in 2019.
Borja Ortega, from the consulting firm JLL, recalls that “asset prices in Spain have risen considerably but we believe they are still far below other European cities such as London, Paris or Amsterdam”. The consulting firm underlines that today is still a good time to buy because “Spain offers very interesting returns above the average of the old continent. This is a very important fact to bear in mind if we want to buy a house in Ibiza and we have doubts about the profitability of this operation.
Arturo Diaz, executive director of the residential division at Savills Aguirre Newman, has a similar perspective. “At a time of high equity volatility and virtually no return on fixed-income investment,” many small investors will seek to exploit their savings under this investment model for maximum profit. Knowing this, it is not difficult to think that available housing may not last long in the market and that there is competition for the best investment. Buying a house in Ibiza could be the best option in 2019.
Finally, the consulting firm CBRE estimates that, in 2019, the price of housing will continue to rise, between 3% and 4%. “We are in an expansive cycle of the sector,” says, for her part, the director of Studies of the portal Fotocasa, Beatriz Toribio. His forecast is “a more moderate growth, in line with what we have seen in the last months of 2018, as a result of the economic slowdown to which different forecasts point. However, it must be borne in mind that within national statistics, the Balearic Islands are the highest positions in price growth, reaching 11% in 2018, ahead of Catalonia or Madrid, so we can say that it is a good time to buy a house in Ibiza.
