Selling my flat in Albacete in times of COVID-19

¿I am selling my flat from Albacete or do I wait? I'm not in a hurry, but... What if prices fall, do I withdraw my house from the sale, do I lower the price?

If you want to sell your flat, in Monapart Albacete we give you all the keys to make the best decision.

The pandemic has plunged our lives into a situation of great uncertainty. We live in a new context that does not allow comparisons with recent experiences. As we look back on this 2020, we see the agenda full of unfulfilled projects. Most are in limbo waiting for a decision to be taken on them. Given that the virus has come to stay with us for a long time, experts say it is necessary to move on from the screen: anger and frustration must give way to that of adaptation. Being well informed about what is going on is the basis on which to make decisions in the new context. And in real estate, even more so. If you want a free valuation of your property, without obligation, reasoned and without generating false expectations, request it for free. here.

Do you know how Covid-19 is influencing the real estate market in our country and in Albacete, in particular? If you ask yourself: "Is it a good time to sell my flat of Albacete?", read on and you will make the best possible decision.

Selling my flat in Albacete. In the middle of the pandemic, is it a good time?

Figures and statistics of the real estate market in Albacete (2019-2020)

According to the appraiser TinsaThe average price of housing in Spain depreciated by 1.6% in the third quarter of the year with respect to the first quarter, when the health crisis began (a comparison with a second quarter of absolute standstill is avoided, which makes it impossible to obtain representative average values). In the city of Madrid, the fall reached 5.81 QoQ3T and 4.31 QoQ3T in Barcelona. The house prices in Albacete according to Tinsa, the average price per square metre of homes valued by the appraiser during the third quarter of 2020 fell by 6.3% compared to the first quarter.

Source: Tinsa

According to data published by the Housing and Land Observatory of the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda, which refer to the 2nd quarter of 2020, the variation in prices over the last year is -1.7% in the country as a whole. As can be seen in the map, Albacete is the second province with the sharpest decrease, down to 5.7%.

Year-on-year change in house prices in Spain. Source: Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda.

With regard to the number of formalised sales and purchases, the latest data published by the National Statistics Institute (INE) The data show that negative year-on-year rates have now been recorded for six consecutive months. Between the months of January and August, there was a cumulative reduction of 25.41 PTR3T in the number of registered sales and purchases.

Available data for months after the end of the first Alarm State in Spain reflect decreases of 32.4% in July and 12.1% in August compared to the same months in 2019.

Transfer of property rights. Urban properties: dwellings (year-on-year change). Source: INE

In the first eight months of 2019 in the province of Albacete, 4,416 property sales and purchases were registered, while in 2020, in the same period, the figure was 3,311, or 74.9%. The decrease of 25.1% is in line with the national average.

How will the real estate sector evolve in COVID-19 times?

Following the publication by the INE of the latest data on sales and purchases, those corresponding to the month of August, the real estate portal Idealist has issued a communiqué in which it stresses that "The statistics, which moderate the falls, reflect the transactions signed in June and July, the euphoric moments at the beginning of the de-escalation".. This has also been confirmed by Fotocasa by stating that "With the end of the state of alarm we had historical data on both traffic and contacts that showed that the market had woken up very active and that Spaniards were eager to look for a new home after confinement"..

However, Idealista considers that "the deterioration of the health situation is likely to negatively influence the following statistics due to the worsening economic outlook of the country"..

Along the same lines, Rafael Gil, director of the Tinsa Research Department, states that "The current situation leads us to think that the macroeconomic data and, by extension, residential demand will be weak, which translates into an expectation of generalised price adjustments, both at the end of 2020 and during 2021..

Albacete is the second province with the sharpest decrease in price/m2, down to 5.7%.

Forecasting the economic evolution of a country and in particular of the real estate sector is always a risky exercise, even more so in such a complex context, but some reports already dare to give figures. The annual real estate study carried out by the University of Barcelona (UB) and the consulting firm Forcadell predicts a decline of 16% between this year and next year, predicts professor Gonzalo BernardosThe report's editorial director.

Other studies, such as the Anuario Inmobiliario de RR Acuña & Associates forecasts a 30% cut in demand by 2020 due to difficulties in accessing home ownership. The supply of housing on the market could return to 2015 levels (around 300,000 homes).

We are facing the greatest economic recession since the Great Depression, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF)However, the hope is for a faster recovery in activity than during the 2008 crisis. For Spain, the market forecasts a historic fall in GDP in 2020 (-12.8%), and an advance in 2021 of 6.3%, so that at least until 2022 it would not recover all the ground lost due to the coronavirus pandemic. 

Returning to the question posed at the beginning of this post, to sell or not to sell, it is difficult to give an answer that fits everyone equally. Each case is different. The decision is influenced by an amalgam of factors and requires a personal reflection that no one can do for you. That said, here are some tips if you find yourself in this decision to sell your flat in Albacete or leave it for later.

Tips for selling your property in Albacete

If once you have done the reflection you decide to take the step of selling your property in Albacete, here are some tips that you may find useful:

• Define what type of sale you want to try to make. You must move between two variables: time and profitability. If you want to sell your flat fast you will most likely be forced to lower your profitability. The most profitable sale possible takes much longer and you take a high risk of not getting the sale. When it comes to selling, the optimal option is to try to achieve the best possible return within a reasonable period of time.
   
• Appreciates professional advice. In Albacete alone there are more than 2,000 homes for sale. It is difficult to make your house shine in the middle of this constellation. If you want to, sell the flat on your ownBut be clear, selling a property is very difficult!
   
• The price of your home You can only set it yourself, that's why it's yours, but take into consideration a professional study of its current market value. You can't get the price of a property from a magic crystal ball or a website, unless you are looking at a range of 25% up and down!
   
• If you finally decide to use professionals, it is important that you choose well the real estate agency with which to sell your flat. Choose someone who tells you the truth, not someone who just tells you what you want to hear in order to gain your trust. Offers that are too far from the price you have set will waste your time. And, in this new context in which we live, wasting time is wasting money!