All the latest news from Valencia Property

We often point out on these pages that Valencia Property has been around for a while. It was started by yours truly, Graham, as a response to the buying process being so difficult. Or rather by my knowing that I could probably do a better job than the huge majority of estate agents that I had dealt with while going through the process of buying my house. We have that whole story on this page in the blog. Therefore I find it surprising that our silver anniversary as a company has sort of sneaked up on me now that we are in 2024 and others in the company have said we should do something to celebrate it. I've been convinced to do something and we will be celebrating in June to coincide with our first rentals back in 1999.

It has been announced that Spain's Golden Visa programme is to be ended, at least the part about it being obtainable by buying property worth over 500k. More details will follow but it's something we have been warning about for some time now and telling people to get their skates on if they wanted it.

I don't know whether you were around in the sixties, I myself was a late entrant into the decade so can't remember that much about it. There is one thing that stands out about Spain from that time when Franco was still around polluting the country with his Catholic Fetish based Fascism and that is the opening up of the country through the country's tourism minister Manual Fraga and the most inspired advertising slogan ever, "Spain is Different". I remember this slogan still being around when I first got interested in Spain in the 80s it was so successful.

Before we really get into the meat of this article let's start with a big caveat, this is not true of all first floor flats just the majority. And let's also start with a clarification for our North American readers, first floor is not ground floor. First floor is the first one you see when you look up. And finally before beginning, some first floor flats are absolutely excellent, it all depends on the design of the building. Most buildings are not designed to have a great first floor flat but some lend themselves to excellent first floor flats especially more modern buildings.

Last Friday we had a Whatsapp Q+A where we answered questions for everyone on our Whatsapp list. Our whatsapp list is where we send out notifications of new listings, price drops, blog posts, podcasts and more so that people can keep up to date with the market here in Valencia. If you want to join the list just let us know, you can find out how at the end. The Q+A was going really well until I used the word "Bribery" as a joke answer to a question. At that point things got a lot quieter and I found out later that people had stopped receiving the messages after that point. I am working on the assumption that Whatsapp throttled our messages after this point because every time I sent a message over 200 people received it.

Last week on the blog we promised to look at what will happen over the next couple of years in the Valencia property market according to "experts" in this area. Since then I have been asking questions, looking at recent articles from said "experts" and taking stock of what we are seeing at the moment to come up with a finger in the air and see which way the wind is blowing prediction for the property market in Valencia and Spain for the next couple of years or so.

Spain gets hot in the summer, no sh*t Sherlock, and thanks to our worldwide proclivity for burning fossil fuels willy-nilly not only is it geting hotter in the summer but those summers are lasting longer. Last week for example the temperatures hit 36 degrees in Seville and Cordoba whilst Valencia was at a nice and comfortable 24 degrees (It's now around 30 so we know it's coming). So today we are looking at how to keep cool in and around Valencia in the Spanish summer. What you can do in Seville, Cordoba, Murcia and Extremadura? I haven't got a clue but maybe as many as possible of the following at the same time.

Valencia, the third-largest city in Spain, has long been known for its rich cultural heritage, beautiful beaches, and the renowned Las Fallas festival. I mean, if you are a regular reader of this blog you will know so much about all of that and more. Recently, however, it has gained recognition for something far less traditional but equally transformative: a booming tech scene in which there are certain jewels in the crown such as the lanzadera project by the Marina for start ups pushed by Juan Roig, the boss of one of Valencia's huge success stories, Mercadona.

It's been a long, hot and absolutely wonderful summer. At least I think it was hot, I was away for a month in Northern Spain and most of our team have been away for at least a part of the month visiting various parts of Spain, the Olympics in Paris, Albania and various major cities in Europe. Those who stayed in Valencia and southern Spain or were here for a short time told us it was hot. We are all back now and up and running. Some of us have been working with people the last couple of weeks preparing things for this really mad September. So yes, we are back, we are working and we are ready... but... we are a bit full.

So... Airbnb... The answer is no. The truth is with us at Valencia Property the answer has been no for some time in the vast majority of cases especially since we opened our Stepping Stone Rentals sister company. But we can no longer look on as Airbnb has such an effect on the housing market around the World and more specifically Valencia. We have been writing on this blog for years about the End of the Airbnb Economy, the fact that Airbnb isn't as profitable as people think and more. We actually started calling for people to stop buying places to Airbnb in 2018 as it was having too great an effect on the city.

A different and depressing post this week after the huge storm that affected inland Valencia on Tuesday and brought disastrous flooding to a huge area to the south and west of the city. A storm front got stuck over the mountains to the south and west of the city and torrential rain fell for hours. Usually the rains of this type are limited in time as the storm moves but this was a chain of storms fed by the heating of the Mediterranean Sea making it longer, wetter and more deadly. Our thoughts, donations and help are with all of those affected

I really wanted to call this article "The Valencia Property Market now... After erm... That". But then realised that the "THAT" in the title could refer to two things and be confusing for the majority of our readers and that the word "erm" in a title isn't great. So yes, we are referring to the flooding and at the same time of course, the death of hope and loss of sanity in the States and we are looking at what both mean for the Valencia Property market. We took a week and a half out of posting on social media, of promoting good properties and generally of being happy out of respect for the people who lost their lives or their possessions or everything in the floods and for those facing up to losing their rights in the States, but for those who can, life goes on and for others putting together a life that works now is a priority.

We have just completed one of the quickest purchases for an overseas client ever. The whole process from arriving in Valencia from Australia to completion took just 15 days and today we want to tell you the story of how that happened and how it is even possible. Also the application for a Golden Visa has been made and will be accepted in the next couple of weeks as we have managed to do everything required to beat the clock as it counts down to the end of that particular visa. First though we'll answer the question how long does it take to buy a property in Valencia normally and then we'll tell you what we did to make this happen so quickly.

It's not often that I'm shocked, at least by things in Spanish real estate. Other things for sure; The state of the World, who people will vote for, the belief that if you don't drink water every ten seconds you'll be dehydrated, terrible own goals and the like yeah, but not things in Spanish real estate, been there seen that etc... However there's a new scam in town and I think you should know about it because you as a buyer, your lawyer, your notary and your seller need to know about it. It's quite ingenious and involves hacking, illegality and the potential loss of millions of Euros without there being anyone to really hold responsible, so take note.

With rental prices through the roof and purchase prices reaching their highest levels seen it's very difficult for young people to get on the property ladder in Spain. In other countries mortgages of up to 100% are available meaning that people have more of a chance of buying without having to save the lump sum required, not to mention the costs involved in purchasing. (You can read about what you need to save in this post from last month) However, if you are in a position to help out your children then there are various ways you can help them get their own place. Let's take a look at five possible ways to help your child get a property.

Living in Valencia I have never seen anyone walking about in a flamenco dress, I don't know any bullfighters, not everyone you see is a foreigner, the place doesn't close down in the winter and we don't only rely on tourists to have anything resembling an economy. Valencia is the third biggest city in Spain and it is a totally first world, modern, thriving city on the Mediterranean coast.

As we suggested last month when the law was finally taken to the Parliament for approval the withdrawal of the Spanish Golden Visa was definitely going to have an end point this month and now we know what it is. The 3rd of April 2025 will be the final date for the Golden Visa. Applications made up to and before this date with all of the correct paperwork will be accepted even if they are not resolved beforehand.

In 2021 we wrote this exact article and looked at how much you would need to earn or have in passive income via pensions, investments etc to live a comfortable life in Valencia. Since then we have had a lot of inflation in the system the World over post-Covid and the supply chain shocks that came as a result. Therefore we have been asked to update the article for 2025 and today we will look at how the cost of living compares in Valencia compared with 2021 and also once again compare Valencia with other popular international destinations.