When the whole of Spain shut down in mid-March last year, we were naturally very uncertain about what the sales year would be like and the consequences Covid-19 would have for the housing market. Thankfully, it has not been as bad as we feared!
Both the land registers and the notaries kept up so that it was possible to carry out purchases that were already underway (albeit with some delays), and already in June we realized that it would not be a "normal" summer, but rather a record summer for us sales wise. It is usually very quiet in the summer since most foreigners on the coast are on holiday, but last year there was little tourism and rather serious people on holiday home hunting who were here.
There have been fewer Norwegians down here to buy a home, but that has not stopped buyers from elsewhere in Europe. Norwegians are in fact the ones who had the highest decline in demand by as much as -52% in the first half of 2020.
However, we have not noticed any major change in inquiries, and there are many who still have plans to buy a home, the plans have only been put on hold for a while. We have seen that there are many who see the opportunities to spend more time down here and have so-called "workcation", which several companies in Norway now seem to facilitate. After the lockdown last spring, we also experienced great demand from several permanent residents here who wanted to move out of the apartment and into a villa or terraced house with its own garden plot.
We constantly follow what clients at other brokers want, and have even had some investor clients who had hoped that the last few months have been the time to make the good deals and buy objects at well below market price. Few people here have had this wish fulfilled. We are not in as much of an economic crisis as it was during the financial crisis, the banks still have money and issue loans and developers have not gone bankrupt. The majority of our sellers are also optimistic that we can achieve the price for the home they want - although it only takes a little longer than normal.
Contact us and let us know if you are thinking of realizing your dream of a home on the Costa del Sol and we will have a chat with you!
