Available property in Spain is at an all time high, with many Spanish provincial capitals reporting 8.1 unsold homes for every 1,000 people in their population, according to reports from Idealista.com.
This is good news for overseas property hunters hoping to snap up bargains, as many developers are being forced to slash prices in order to deal with the backlog of properties. This is coupled with the recent decision by the Spanish government to reduce VAT on new build homes, which is thought to be a way of making sure that the housing stock is snapped up.
The large numbers of available properties is in direct contrast with the UK where there is a housing shortage. A rising young population looking for property, plus more people living alone, means that housing demand is outstripping supply. The Office for National Statistics estimates that the UK population will grow by more than four million to nearly 65 million by 2020, of which almost 12 million will be aged under 30 and looking to purchase property. Despite this, the UK builds some of the lowest numbers of property anywhere in the Europe.
Lugo is the province with the highest density of properties for sale, followed by Zamora and Ciudad Real. Relative to its size Bilbao had the most available properties with 13.6 available homes for every 1,000 people in the population. However, there are also large amounts of unsold housing stock across Madrid, Seville and Valencia. The only regions which did not have such high number s of properties for sale were Soria and Melilla.
Fernando Encinar, Idealista.com's head of studies said that: “Market leverage produced by the employment figures, restricted access to credit, and housing prices, have resulted in the stock of unsold housing more than doubling in just over two years.”
Read our guide to buying a property in Spain Search for available Spanish properties