Although the number of transactions will help maintain this frenetic activity in 2017, prices will rise by 9% in the sales sector and 8% in rental housing. This is one of the conclusions of the Informe de mercado Barcelona 2017 published by the German firm Engel & Völkers, who forecast growth at two rates over the next few years.
While the best areas of Sarrià-Sant Gervasi, Les Corts, Eixample, Ciutat Vella, Gracia and Diagonal Mar, which are between 80% and 90% in respect of their record maximums, they will hit a ceiling in a few years in order to undergo a phase of consolidation; the remaining districts of the city and the municipalities in the metropolitan area will still tend to increase at between 50% and 60% in respect of their record highs.
The study, presented today by Oriol Canal, general director of the Metropolitan Market Center (MMC) at Engel & Völkers in Barcelona, points out that “although international demand retains its strength, in the last year local business has increased to become 60% of purchases”.
If 2016 was the year of the take-off of the building of new developments, 2017 will see an explosion in the segment of new work and renovation in Barcelona, a city which will be regarded by large international real estate funds as the ideal European capital in which to invest.