Three months ago I wrote this article about the first quarter of 2017 in Valencia Property land.
It’s time now for the second quarter report and to let you know what is happening on the ground for foreign buyers in Valencia.
Virtually everything I wrote in the first quarter continues to hold true. We are getting Trump refugees, lifestyle seekers and more. The difference is that Brexit worries grew because of the idiotic UK government with first their decision to invoke article 50 without a clear plan or any sort of organization and then with their decision to call a snap election to get a mandate for the Brexit talks after insisting that they wouldn’t. These two factors placed even more uncertainty into the minds of those people thinking of escaping the UK and a brake was applied to the number of enquiries coming from the UK, most markedly in May. The result of the election made things even clearer than mud and if anything increased the uncertainty.
I am pretty certain that a big Conservative win and a supposed mandate for harder Brexit would have unleashed a torrent of enquiries of people who are sick of the hatred, bigotry and anger coming from the UK (DUP anyone?) As it is, people are largely expecting a second election after the pitiful Mrs May loses the remaining raggle-taggle elements of support she may have and therefore they are willing to wait and see what happens before committing to leave the country before the country leaves the EU.
Those clients who have been over from the UK and purchased in the last three months have typically been Remain supporters wanting to leave what they consider a poisoned country. And the current situation has not stopped them buying.
We have continued to get Americans interested in purchasing in Valencia and again they are mostly people horrified by Trump and the way their country is going. However we actually had some Trump supporters who were looking around too. Let’s just say they were interesting discussions in the car as we were between visits.
We have had completions from Indian, Dutch, American, British and Belgian clients in the last three months and we are waiting on many more where deposits have been left.
What are people buying in Valencia?
Typically clients are buying city apartments, either penthouses or first floor flats with terraces, or apartments to renovate and either rent out or use as holiday homes. The areas that are popular in the city are Ruzafa, Cabanyal, Malvarrosa and Botanico as well as the Carmen. We have had two clients gazumped by higher offers, one client whose purchase hasn’t gone through due to a major accident on behalf of the seller and another who is still waiting for the correct paperwork to be in place to complete.
Outside of the city we have been showing extremely good value properties in Olocau, Lliria, Pedralba and Naquera but sales are rarer outside the city and prices continue to flatline.
Anecdotally prices are rocketing in certain parts of the city. A client of ours who bought a place for 55000 euros in the Cabanyal at the end of 2013 has just agreed to a sale at 120000 euros after just fixing up, decorating and putting a new bathroom in. Anything in the Cabanyal area under 100000 euros is snapped up almost immediately and there is even a full building purchase that has gone through to place 130 student flats near the port which again will help to revitalize the area even more. The Cabanyal is absolute chaos at the moment as all of the streets are being dug up to make wider pavements, install new drains and gas pipes and start the revitalization of the area which will continue with the rebuilding of over 200 two floor houses that will then be rented out to locals to live in at low rental prices.
Ruzafa continues to thrive as the hipster capital of Valencia with more and more coffee shops, bars and exclusive restaurants mingling with the vintage shops, the outdoor market, exclusive fashion boutiques and the traditional small shops found in barrios and prices continue to rise with very little on sale and that which goes on sale commanding ever higher prices.
We see great value in the Malvarrosa still and now there is movement in the more modern and upmarket Alboraya around the Patacona beach. You can see a very good deal on a property in the Patacona here.
Of course when particular areas become popular there is a knock on effect in areas surrounding them and we are seeing more movement now in En Corts near Ruzafa, Monteolivete between Ruzafa and the City of Arts and Sciences and La Zaidia on the north side of the riverbed near the Old Town.
Summer is here now and visits become more difficult, see our post here about visiting property in the summer. So bear this in mind and be patient and maybe just maybe we can find you the perfect place. If you have already visited and are looking to buy but we didn’t find you the right place first time be patient too. Just this week we have managed to secure a place for a client who has been looking in the Cabanyal for three months and the perfect place has come up and we were able to get a deposit down for them immediately without even viewing it.
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