A home in the city of Barcelona has been sold 61.9% later in 2023 than in 2022, when it was sold in just 42 days on average. The data, made public by Housfy, a comprehensive real estate and home services platform, refers to the average time it takes between the publication of a property advertisement on real estate portals and the formalization of the sale.
Despite this delay in sales, widespread throughout the State and which coincides with the rise in interest rates in the eurozone, the average price of sales in the same period has increased by a timid 0.05%, according to purchase and sale data registered and published by Habitatge.
Two districts of the city of Barcelona stand out where properties have been sold most quickly in 2023, in just over a month, according to Housfy data.
These are Gràcia, where the average has been 31 days, and Horta-Guinardó, with 37.5 days. They are also the only districts where the average sales time has been reduced between 2022 and 2023.
In general, the other districts have seen their times lengthened in 2023 compared to 2022, although they are all within a reasonable sales period, close to two months.
The case of Ciutat Vella is special, and its sales time has increased by 189.7% in 2023 compared to 2022, according to Housfy. In 2023, it has been the district where it has taken the longest to find a buyer, despite the fact that a year ago it was one of the areas where apartments sold the fastest.
A similar case is that of Nou Barris, where the average sales time has also increased by 162.5%. Before it was the district where it sold the fastest.
Housfy’s data confirms trends in a market where the ferocity of demand has been tempered by high interest rates and inflation. “2022 started with a negative Euribor and ended above 3%,” recalls Irene González, account executive at Housfy Compraventa.
This situation, which slowed demand, extended throughout 2023 and will continue until mid-2024, when the European Central Bank begins the de-escalation of interest rates.
Despite this slowdown in the market, both Ciutat Vella and Nou Barris have maintained and increased their housing prices in this period, according to official data on registered sales. Above all, Nou Barris (4.54%) has seen its prices increase more than Ciutat Vella (1.88%).
The same does not happen with Sarrià-Sant Gervasi, which, in 2022, had already been the district with the longest sales time. In 2023, the average house price, in the most expensive district of the city, has dropped -3.16%.
The price of housing in Barcelona is holding up and remains almost intact. The variation of this figure in the city as a whole has been 0.05%.
We are not talking about large increases – the highest is documented in Sant Andreu, 7.63% – but we are talking about a resistance in the price of apartments in Barcelona, ??with a clear inclination to become more expensive in the long term.
Apart from foreign investment, which keeps prices rising, Irene González, from Housfy, believes that a chronification of the data may occur, that is, people become accustomed to the situation of high prices and rates. However, any long-term forecast is difficult because the market is influenced by political, economic or geodemographic factors that are foreign to it.