The rental price per square metre per month in Barcelona averages at 21.8 euros, making the Catalan city the most expensive place to rent in Spain. Madrid is the second most expensive with an average of 17.3 euros per square metre per month. This data is contained in the report by the professional services firm EY, The Living Property Telescope 2022. According to this study, which explains Spanish real estate behaviour between March 2018 and October 2022, the increase in rental prices in Barcelona over this period has been 36% compared to an increase of 16% in Madrid. These are the details about Barcelona being the most expensive city to buy and rent a home in Spain.
The most expensive property in Spain found in Barcelona
The Living Property Telescope 2022, also points to Barcelona and Madrid as the cities where the time it takes to rent a property has reduced the most. The time to rent a property has been reduced by 56% in both areas. Specifically, in Madrid the waiting time is around 1.3 months and in Barcelona 1.4 months. The time it takes to sell a property in the two cities is also very similar, 2.3 months in Madrid, with a reduction of 40%, and 2.4 months in Barcelona, with a respective reduction of 35%.
What does not fall, but rather continues its upward trend, is the cost of property in these municipalities, which have the highest prices in Spain. The most expensive city to buy property in Spain is Barcelona, with a price per square metre of 4,220 euros, which represents an increase of 6% over the period studied. The price per square metre in Madrid is set at 4,028 euros, an increase of 8%.
The third most expensive city is Bilbao
After the two cities where it is most expensive to buy and rent, the third most expensive city in the ranking is Bilbao. The average selling price is 3,259 euros per square metre, an increase of 7%. It is also the third province with the highest rental prices, 14 euros per square metre per month, an increase of 7%. The EY study calculates the selling time in Bilbao at 4.1 months, 10% less, and the rental time at 2.2 months, which, unlike the other cities, breaks the trend, increasing by 7%.
Valencia is the second city, after Barcelona, in which the rental price has increased the most, according to the report, the increase has been 32%, standing at 12.6 euros per square metre per month. Likewise, this is also the third province in which purchase prices have risen the most, up to 13%, reaching 2,066 euros per square metre. The time it takes to sell a property in Valencia is calculated at 3.2 months, 28% less.
Málaga is where it takes the least time to rent a property
One of the cities that appears in this study is Málaga. The sixth most populated city in Spain has a rising market marked in part by the attraction it is exerting on large new technology companies. Málaga is the city where it takes the least time to rent a residence, only 0.9 months. This represents a reduction of up to 67%. It is worth noting the increase in the price of rents, up 25% to 12.8 euros per square metre per month. In Málaga, the price of homes has increased by 10%, with an average figure of 2,394 per square metre.
Price increases in Seville and Zaragoza
The EY report also points out the rise in prices in the provinces of Zaragoza and Seville. The increase in the cost of sale in Zaragoza has been 5%, standing at 1,700 euros per square metre and in Seville 4%, at 2,054 per square metre. The cost of rent has also risen in these two cities, in Zaragoza by 7%, to 9.1 euros per square metre per month, and in Seville by 8%, from 10.1 euros per square metre to 10.9. It is worth noting that the time it takes to sell a property has been considerably reduced in Seville, by 46%, which translates into an average of 2.3 months. In Zaragoza a property takes around 2.7 months to be sold. In Seville a property takes 2.2 months to be rented, 27% less and in Zaragoza 1.6, which means 33% less.
