Glenn Wickman
THE price of land to build holiday homes in Valencia Province has doubled due to a spike in demand.
Real estate analysts have revealed that the COVID pandemic and last year’s lockdown led to record-breaking sales of country chalets throughout the area at the end of 2020, as buyers sought places to live that were out in the open and away from large cities.
This has led prime spots to double in price, with an 800 square-metre plot in Rocafort – home to the popular Cambridge College English school – now fetching up to €515,000, and tracts of up to 600 square metres in Betera doubling from €150,000 before the pandemic to €300,000 at current prices.
Similar price hikes have been registered in other parts of the province such as Godella, Paterna and Silla.
Experts suggest that the main reason for the increase is a surge in demand, as it is becoming increasingly difficult to find empty land on which to build.
The most frequent type of buyer is said to be wealthy local families who live in Valencia city and are looking to move out, either permanently or as a second home.
Sellers are mostly landowners who bought large plots years ago and are now looking to sell parts of them, or people who purchased with the aim of building a holiday home but eventually gave up on the idea.
Official statistics show that property sales have dropped in six of the eight most populated provincial capitals in Spain since 2016, with buyers preferring less crowded areas.
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