I'm hoping to make connections and learn about the ins and outs of real estate investments in Spain. I'm a software engineer based in Barcelona. Feel free to reach out!
Hi @Josh McCarthy and hi to all others who are responding to this post about Spain.
Are you starting out in real estate or do you already have experience in another country?
Spanish real estate offers different interesting points:
- it is relatively cheaper than most other (European) countries
- there are quite a lot of distressed properties that can be flipped or kept to rent for a good yield
- managing to get a tourist license in combination with a tourist location will boost the yield even more
We are hosting a meetup btw in Barcelona if at one point you would like to get in contact with many other people who want to or are already active in real estate here.
I have no experience but am keen to learn. I only started looking into it recently.
I have been looking at the short term rental market (thinking AirBnB). I was thinking outside of Barcelona as I know they have strict rules here and there is a lot of competition.
I have no experience but am keen to learn. I only started looking into it recently.
I have been looking at the short term rental market (thinking AirBnB). I was thinking outside of Barcelona as I know they have strict rules here and there is a lot of competition.
Short term in Barcelona can be a gold mine! But they're not issuing new licenses, and many existing ones are likely to be canceled in the next few years.
Yes the battle for tourist licenses here in Barcelona is already over. It is still possible to build a portfolio of tourist rentals by purchasing properties that have a license on them, but expect to pay a serious price for it (market price + €50-100.000).
That is the reason why we are active in Valencia where it is still possible to get the licenses on certain properties. They are expecting that this will change in the upcoming 1-2 years, so we are now busy with all our capabilities to do as many projects as possible.
Thanks for the info. Good to know. And I assume cities are the better options as they have year-round tourists? Whereas the Costa del Sol area (outside of Malaga) is fairly empty in Winter.
Your assumption is incorrect. The Costa del Sol is by far Spain's main tourist destination whatever the season. I own property there and I can assure you it's absolutely not empty in the winter and I've been there in the winter multiple times. It's actually more and more crowded. With 340 days of dry sunshine a yea or so, it has the best weather in Europe, including the best winter weather in Continental Europe by far. Think Florida without the humidity.
As the example of Barcelona shows, the local governments will crackdown on city short-term rentals while banning them in the Costa del Sol would make no sense whatsoever. So, all things considered, it's by far the best option for short-term rentals in my book.
Have in mind that licenses are being given based on the density or in other words the amount of licenses already given. Too many licenses will disturb the local system, that is mainly how they think.
I agree with @Mike Lambert that Spain in general is a year round option for tourists because outside of summer (which honestly sometimes becomes a bit too hot) the sun shines even in winter times with very comfortable temperatures. The Costa del Sol, Costa Blanca/Valenciana, and Costa Brava all could be a good option when you do an analysis where the numbers work best/licenses are still being given.