Santa Eulària is the most expensive municipality with more than 25,000 inhabitants to buy a home

In the first quarter of the year, Santa Eulària had the highest average price of free housing, with 4,682 euros per square metre, while Villarobledo (Albacete), with 593 euros per square metre, is the cheapest town in Spain among municipalities with more than 25,000 inhabitants.

According to statistical data from the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda (Mitma) collected by Europa Press, along with Santa Eulària, two other municipalities exceeded 4,000 euros per square meter in the first quarter: San Sebastian (4,509 euros) and Ibiza (4,187 euros).

Close to that figure of 4,000 euros per square meter are also located the Barcelona municipalities of Sitges (3,949 euros) and Sant Cugat del Vallés (3,947 euros) and the Balearic town of Calvià, with 3,917 euros per square meter.

At the other extreme, with the cheapest prices, are the municipalities of Villarobledo (Albacete), with 593 euros per square meter; Tomelloso (Ciudad Real), with 612 euros; Hellín (Albacete), with 613 euros per square meter, and Puertollano (Ciudad Real), with 616 euros per square meter.

They are followed, also with figures below 700 euros per square meter, by the Alicante municipalities of Petrer (664 euros) and Villena (667 euros); the Murcian town of Yecla (680 euros); the municipalities of Villanueva de la Serena (Badajoz) and Valdepeñas (Ciudad Real), with 686 euros per square meter in both cases; the Murcian town of Jumilla (688 euros), and Elda (Alicante), with 692 euros.

According to Mitma data for municipalities with more than 25,000 inhabitants, the town of El Campello, in Alicante, is the one that raised its prices the most in the first quarter compared to the same period in 2022, with a rise of 20.3%, to 2,198 euros per square meter.

It is followed by Sagunto, in Valencia, with a year-on-year rise of 18.1%, to 982 euros per square meter; Puerto de la Cruz (Tenerife), with an 18% advance, to 2,023 euros per square meter; and Manacor, in the Balearic Islands, with a year-on-year increase in the first quarter of 17.4%, to 1,833 euros per square meter.

By contrast, the largest declines in the average appraised price of free housing were in Valdepeñas (Ciudad Real), with a drop over the first quarter of 2022 of 11.2%, to 686 euros per square meter, and in Hellín (Albacete), where the price fell by 10.7% year-on-year, to 613 euros per square meter.

They are followed by the A Coruña town of Narón, with a 9.4% drop, to 814 euros per square meter, and Petrer, in Alicante, with a year-on-year decline of 8.8%, to 664 euros per square meter.

Average rise of 3.1%

Nationwide, the average appraised price of free housing rose 3.1% in the first quarter of the year, to €1,788.4 per meter, the highest figure since the last quarter of 2010, when it reached €1,825.5 per square meter.

Although in the first quarter the year-on-year growth rate moderated two tenths from the previous quarter, from 3.3% to 3.1%, the average price of free housing increased by 2.2% on a quarter-on-quarter basis (Q1 2023 over Q4 2022).

The average value per square meter of vacant housing up to five years old stood at 2,112.1 euros between January and March, 6.6% more than in the same period of 2022, while free housing over five years old rose 3% year-on-year to 1,778.1 euros per square meter.

By autonomous communities, the largest year-on-year increases in the price of free housing during the first quarter were in the Balearic Islands, up 7.8%, to 2,803 euros per square meter; Andalusia ( 4.8%, 1,466 euros per square meter); the Canary Islands, where the price rose by 4.7%, to 1,670 euros per square meter, and Madrid, which raised its prices by 4.6%, to 2,978 euros per square meter.

Precisely, Madrid was the region with the highest price, followed by the Balearic Islands (2,803 euros per square meter); the Basque Country (2,541 euros per square meter) and Catalonia (2,186 euros per square meter).

In contrast, the lowest prices correspond to Extremadura (880 euros per square meter); Castilla-La Mancha (929 euros); Murcia (1,049 euros) and Castilla y León (1,057 euros).