Is It a Good Time to Build a Home in Spain?

For the last few years, I have often been faced with the question: Is now a good time to build a house in Spain? Unfortunately I can't look into the future, but what I can do is give my opinion about the present times.

As the owner of a building company on the island of Mallorca, I can certainly tell you that not only have building prices คอนโดมือสอง gone down since the start of the crisis, including material, but also the prices of architects, "aparejadores" (a figure that only exists in Spain, who is the middle man between the architect and the builders - and which is compulsory for any major project), engineers (for the telecommunications projects, etc.) and any other workforce that is involved (electricians, plumbers, plasterers, carpenters, painters, etc.).

On all these expenses, you have to pay the "IVA" (value added tax) which at this moment in time is still the reduced 8% instead of 18%. This might be changing very soon with the continued pressure from the EU.

The price of land has also come down, due to the lack of demand, although it won't be coming down too much in certain regions like the Balearic and Canary Islands, or a lot of the mainlands coastal areas, because building areas are constantly being reduced thanks to the environmentalists.

Now is a very good time to get a good bargain on building prices as the market place is more like a battle for survival. With the weakest companies out of the game, the choice of the surviving companies is, from what I can see, a much safer one. The new circumstances do not guarantee that you will get a good quality building company, but most certainly raises the probability of doing so.

Another important factor is that companies have had to let go some or most of the personnel, obviously starting with the underqualified or should I say less apt (because in Spain, you do not need any qualifications to work at a building site, making nearly everybody underqualified!). This means better quality at more competitive prices.

As soon as the liquidity issues caused by the credit crunch are solved, many people will be building their dream homes, because it is deeply engraved in the Spanish culture to own their own house. This is specially so in the local villages where often couples make their own house before getting married. All the people that would have built there own home since 2008 and couldn't because the banks turned there backs on them, will as soon as this situation changes. This means that it is easier to get better deals now, than wait until the economic storm has past, which will see demand for building companies increase.

Let's add on top of that the current interest rates, with the EURIBOR at historical lows, and what's the conclusion? Now is a great time to build a house in Spain.