As August bows out, property prices on the Costa Blanca have decided to sneak upwards again.
According to the property site Fotocasa, in Alicante the cost per square metre is now 20% higher than it was this time last year.
But the real eyebrow-raiser is in the Vega Baja. In the little town of Dolores, sandwiched between Catral and Almoradí and home to just over 8,000 people, prices haven’t just crept up, they have shot through the roof. In the past year, the average property price there has doubled, climbing a whopping 103.1%.
According to the property website, that makes it the fastest rise in Spain’s second-hand housing market.
In August alone, prices jumped another 12%, reaching €1,856 per square metre. To put that into context: a 100-square-metre home in Dolores will now set you back about €185,600. A year ago, the very same place would have cost around €91,300.
And this isn’t a one-off. Prices have been ballooning for years. Back in 2015, Idealista reported that an 80-square-metre flat in the area averaged just over €103,000. Fast forward to today, and the same sort of place is heading towards €200,000.
“Housing prices keep climbing and we’re seeing the biggest change in the history of our records,” says María Matos, head of research at Fotocasa. She points out that supply simply can’t keep up with demand and the result is prices being pushed higher and higher.
