Words: Ashley Rigg
Published: 1st November 2011
*Spain: House hunters offer 22% below asking prices
An interesting survey from property portal Idealista.com reveals that offer prices for homes across Spain are on average 21.7% below asking prices.
Fernando Encinar, head of research at Idealista.com, puts the disparity down to affordability.
“[House hunters] can’t afford asking prices and are making offers they can afford to try and close the sale,” he says.
Comment
Such a large disparity must also be caused by imperfections in the market. The fact that there are no published figures on actual sale prices makes accurate valuations more difficult. It also contributes to lower agent sales volumes through unrealistic seller expectations and more deals falling through because of buyer remorse (house hunters thinking they have not got the best deal and pulling out late in the process).
It would be interesting to hear the experiences of those of you selling internationally in Spain. Are 22% discounts on asking prices about average or is the situation more pronounced in the overseas market?
Source: Idealista
User Comments
Certainly offer prices are MUCH less than asking prices. Our experience recently suggests that 22% is a very conservative estimate. Buyers seem to expect up to 40% reduction, fuled I think by the media continually telling people how bad the situation is in Spain. Most seem to ignor the price falls over the past two years. Example TODAY - a property originally offered at 175,000 reduced to 145,000 and offered at 80,000. I know everyone likes a deal BUT...............
Roy Hayes,
Kasas Royale