Should you expect to buy your own home if you get married in Spain?
Many couples planning to get married dream of their family nest – their own home. Newlyweds getting married in Spain are no exception. How big are their chances of buying a house or an apartment? Have Spanish property prices really fallen so significantly during the crisis and have already started to grow rapidly, forcing people to hurry up with their purchase decisions?
Most experts agree: yes, there are already signs of market recovery in Spain. But at the same time, you can still find offers at very favorable prices or get a significant discount. So those who are planning a wedding in the near future should definitely not give up on their dream of owning their own home.
The rapid development of the Spanish market, which resulted in the infamous “bubble”, was largely due to the availability of mortgages and soaring property prices. Banks were ready to issue loans, and Spaniards did not think much about whether they would be able to bear the mortgage burden. The era of thoughtless lending ended with the onset of the crisis, and many banks simply curtailed their mortgage programs. However, today, future newlyweds who do not have significant amounts to buy a home can quite easily count on being able to get a loan for 80 or even 90% of the value of the property they have chosen. Of course, provided that their credit history is clean and they can prove the required level of income.
Should we be afraid of a quick and sharp increase in prices? Yes, the market recovery has begun, but experts believe that this process will take a very long time, given that it is closely linked to the general economic situation in the country. At a time when almost a quarter of the population of Spain cannot find a job, it is definitely not worth expecting that real estate prices will skyrocket in a couple of months.
Should you buy cheap housing if you get married in Spain?
Young people who are not burdened with significant incomes may be tempted to buy the cheapest real estate, reasoning: even if it is poor, it is still theirs. Especially since, if desired, you can still find properties on the market today that cost only 30 thousand euros. However, you should not delude yourself too much: all such apartments are located in dubious areas, in dilapidated housing stock, and sometimes even minimal amenities are missing. It is precisely such properties, which are available in almost every Spanish region, that have fallen in price the most during the crisis. But no matter how constrained the financial situation of the newlyweds is and no matter how much they want to become owners of their own home, making such a purchase is clearly not worth it.
Does this mean that talk about low prices for Spanish real estate is just a myth? Not at all. If newlyweds are not overwhelmed by the desire to settle in one of the largest cities in Spain, for example, in Madrid or Barcelona, they can easily find very attractively priced options. For example, today in Valencia you can buy a two-bedroom apartment in one of the best areas of the city for only 100 thousand euros. By the way, in Barcelona for the same price you can only buy a tiny one-room apartment in one of the neighborhoods where the poorest immigrants live.
Special attention should be paid to bank real estate. The range of offers from banks includes not only “killed” secondary housing, but also completely new houses and apartments. Banks periodically arrange sales, and as a result, real estate can be bought for one and a half times cheaper than a similar object offered on the market by a private owner.
There is another important point that should be taken into account by those wishing to acquire a family nest at a reasonable price. When making a purchase on the Spanish real estate market, you can and should bargain. Owners today are very often ready to make concessions if they see that the buyer is really interested in making a deal. Skillful and appropriate bargaining can sometimes save more than one thousand euros on a purchase – this money will definitely not be superfluous in the budget of a young family.
