Spain | The demand for new housing in the next few years

The growth trend in the real estate market continues. After the correction, between 2008 and 2014, the sector has not stopped growing in the last few years. This advance was only interrupted in 2020— the toughest stage in the COVID-19 pandemic— which is still affecting the world economy.

Key points

• Key points:
• Some data clearly show that the pandemic and the resultant lockdowns, have seen a change in the preferences of Spanish households. Demand is now aimed more towards bigger homes or those with outdoor spaces, such as terraces or gardens.
• Spain is still one of the countries with the highest ratio of dwellings per household: 1.38 in 2020,surpassed only by Portugal (at over 1.4). In the UK and Germany, the figure is around 1, while in Denmark and France it is around 1.2.
• Population growth has been a key factor in the demand for housing in Spain and was a major driver in the early years of this century—up to 2008—due in particular to an increase in immigration which saw an average yearly rise of 1.7% in the country's population.
• A gradual fall was also seen in the average size of Spanish households after 1996 — down from 3.1 to around 2.5 in 2020. Nonetheless, Spain remains consistently above the average of the rest of the EU of 2.3 people per household in 2020.
• In the future , construction activity in the residential segment is expected to experience a significant increase in the next few years, of around 1.8 million additional units in the Spanish housing stock by 2035 — an average increase of some 120,000 new homes each year.

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