Price gap between listings and actual sales in Spain reaches 43%
Price gap between listings and actual sales in Spain reaches 43%
Recent data from Spain's leading real estate portals, Idealista and Fotocasa, shows that the average asking price across the country is €2,672 per square meter. However, official notarial records register the actual sale price of properties at just €1,866 per square meter. The difference averages 43% nationwide.
The largest gaps are seen in regions with low market liquidity:
- Extremadura — 64%,
- Valencia region and Canary Islands — 55%.
In major high-demand cities, the difference is significantly smaller: 26% in Madrid and only 16% in Barcelona.
JosĂ© GarcĂa Montalvo, economics professor at Pompeu Fabra University, notes that inflated listing prices create an illusion of constant market growth. Buyers and sellers rely on portal averages, prompting new owners to list their properties even higher, triggering a vicious cycle.
Real estate portals emphasize they publish only sellers' desired prices. The rise in average asking prices is largely due to a large number of stagnant, expensive listings and subsequent price negotiations during the transaction stage.
The consequences of this gap are already evident:
- distorted perception of the market’s true condition among participants,
- inaccuracy in official statistics (many analysts and media outlets use portal data instead of notarial records),
- thousands of properties remain unsold for months due to unrealistic pricing.
According to representatives of the Association of Real Estate Agents of the Valencian Community (Asicval), many owners simply fail to recognize the actual market value of their homes and harm themselves with excessive expectations.
Experts stress that as long as the gap between what sellers want and what buyers can afford continues to widen, listing statistics will paint a misleading picture of rapidly rising prices. For an objective assessment of Spain’s real estate market, it is more reliable to rely on official notarial transaction data rather than property portals.