Challenges, demands and prospects for luxury housing in 2023

Spain is a country of strong tourist investment and more and more people are buying homes. During 2022, the 'premium' residential segment continued to be one of the favorites of large portfolios looking for a safe investment with a stable return that does not depend on macroeconomic factors and that is much less volatile than other markets such as the stock market or the cryptocurrencies. In addition, the high-end market for buyers of a first or second home also confirmed its definitive recovery after the pandemic.

Generally speaking, the client profile corresponds to families looking for a main residence or a more investor profile looking for a secondary residence where they can spend long periods of time and at the same time protect themselves from inflation.

Regarding the typology, at Lucas Fox they are of the opinion that the pandemic changed the lifestyle and way of working of many people, and buyers continue to bet on more spacious properties and in areas where there is more nature on the outskirts of the city.

It is clear that everyone is waiting to know if the market is going to be able to absorb the effect of such high inflation, since it will continue to be high during this year. "In the medium and long term, real estate always appreciates with it, and what they don't pay you today, perhaps because it is an abrupt rise, they end up paying you years later," says the CEO of Uxban.

While it reflects that the rise in interest rates has not yet produced any impact in this market segment that is highly dominated by international investors. “It may be that the national client, both from Madrid and from the rest of Spain, retracts with expensive financing; that is where we will see if the push from the foreign buyer compensates for this loss of interest”.

The most sought after elements in a luxury home:

International buyers of premium homes demand, among other things, an en-suite bathroom, since they give up larger rooms if that sacrifice means having an en-suite bathroom that they do not have to share. They also require movie dressing rooms, it is even requested that it be divided for each member of the couple, and when the meters are not enough it would be a complete 'walking closet', that is, one person can be inside looking for their clothes and have access straight to the bathroom.

Also rooms without a TV and then think of a 'family room', a smaller room with a much more intimate character; the perfect place to watch TV in your pajamas. While they need functional rooms, home automation houses with climate control and piped music in each room, and storage. In addition, one of the essential characteristics of luxury homes for national buyers is that they have a garage space, however for these buyers it is not a necessary value at all, "they want to live in the center to be able to walk quietly, which they rarely do in their countries of origin; if they need to get around they do it by taxi or rent a car occasionally”.

Source: Idealista

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