We publish thousands of Spanish properties every day on Kyero and measure the popularity of each property, based on how fresh and complete the advert is and how visitors interact with it. This shows us how popular any property is in a given location and every day we’re happy to share with you the most popular properties in cities throughout Spain.

So, here are the current top properties for sale in Archez - as voted by you!

Do you have a town you would like to see featured here? Please leave us a comment and we’ll do our best to display the most popular properties in that location as soon as possible.

The accompanying TINSA press release summarises this report as:

The second quarter ended with a slight fall in the value of housing

The General Spanish Property Market Index for June once again intensified its year-on-year fall to stand at 6.6%, compared to 5.9% in the preceding month.

Regarding levels, 1782 points were reached, twelve points below the figure for May. The cumulative decline already stands at 22% from the peak reached at the end of 2007.

Regarding variation by area, it should be highlighted that all of them showed greater year-on-year falls than in the previous month. The “Mediterranean Coast” once again led the way with a figure of 8.7% followed by “Capitals and Large Cities” with a 7.3% fall and the “Balearic and Canary Islands” with a decrease of 7%.

“Metropolitan Areas” with a year-on-year fall of 6.1% and the “Rest of Local Authorities” not included in the above-mentioned categories with a decrease of 5% underwent below average falls.

Regarding cumulative falls from maximum figures, the “Mediterranean Coast” leads the way with a fall that has already reached 28.8%. It is followed by “Capitals and Large Cities” with a figure of 23.4%, closely followed by “Metropolitan Areas”, which recorded a cumulative fall of 22.9%.

The decline in the “Balearic and Canary Islands” stood at exactly 20%. The “Rest of Local Authorities” not included in the preceding classifications closed the group with a cumulative fall of 18.6%.

Cinco Dias stated that the average price of new housing in provincial capitals in June stood at 2,419 €/m2, making a house of 90 m2 equivalent to 217,710 euros.

All regions experienced drops in prices with the exception of the Basque Country, where prices rose 4.9%.

The biggest cuts were in Aragon (8%), Balearic Islands (6.8%), Extremadura (6.6%), Murcia (6.3%), Cantabria (5.7%), Andalusia (5.6% ) and La Rioja (5.5%).

In the case of the provincial capitals, the price of new housing rose by (0.9%) in Pontevedra and (0.3%) in Zamora, while it remained unchanged in Palencia and Badajoz and dropped in the rest.

The capitals with the highest housing prices were Barcelona (3,720 €/m2), San Sebastian (3,615 €/m2) and Madrid (3,240 €/m2), while the lowest were Murcia (1,387 €/m2), Badajoz (1,389 €/m2) and Cáceres (1,405 €/m2).

The study predicts that in the coming months a significant amount of surplus housing will be absorbed, since there is a potential demand, but it depends on the economic situation and the possibilities of funding.

Revival in the pace of sales will be “gradual” and “slow” and will come hand-in-hand with lower prices from developers, although it is “closely linked to their ability to support their debt levels”.

Given the “drastic” reduction of new promotions, recovery of the sector is dependent on the absorption rate of the stock, which is uncertain because of shrinking demand due to high rates of unemployment, economic uncertainty and tightening credit lines.

The report indicates that the ongoing restructuring of the Spanish financial sector “can have a significant impact on the housing market because it affects mainly the institutions traditionally associated with mortgage lending.”

La Sociedad de Tasación prepared the report using data of more than 33,000 properties from more than 2,350 real estate agents and over 400 cities and towns across the country.

Aside from the chance of winning this great independent guide from Which, you’ll also love the advantages of registering with Kyero.

We’ve now made it even easier for you to create and manage a personalised shortlist of your properties and to receive automatic alerts as soon as your ideal Spanish property becomes available. By browsing Kyero.com as a registered visitor, it’s also quicker and easier to make property enquiries.

We hope you like the new-look Kyero.com and that you’ll love using these new features for registered visitors. Who knows? you may even be one of the lucky 50 to win a copy of the Which guide to Buying property abroad.

Register now, it’s quick, easy and free (and we’ll never, ever misuse your registration details).

The new laws concern ‘rustic’ versus ‘urban’ land and state that no new construction can take place on rustic land unless it is for commercial agricultural use. One exception to this is where there is an existing building which the town hall has classified as a ‘habitation’ which can be reformed into a new house.

Like all laws, there are some loopholes and caveats but, especially now, when buying a plot of land, a new house or a recently built house in Andalucia – ensure you use an independent solicitor who is not connected with either the builder or owner of the property. They can easily check if all planning consents and building licenses have been or can be issued.

Land scams are common enough in some parts of Spain that local councils have erected road signs, in English, warning buyers to check the paperwork before handing over any money. Let common sense prevail and seek legal advice.

Foreign demand for a second or retirement home on the Spanish coast is still there, but there are signs that growth is starting to slow. New housing starts this year are forecast at 585,000, down 15 per cent year-on-year. Some property developers are starting to follow the bigger operators abroad. Confronted with increasingly squeezed margins at home and diminishing tracts of beachfront land, they have crossed the border into Portugal.

In the future, developers will also have to abide by tougher environmental regulations as regional and local authorities follow the lead of Lanzarote, one of the Canary Islands, where a 10-year moratorium on tourism-related construction has been in force since 2000.

A recently-completed study concluded that Lanzarote’s economic sustainability would only be assured through refurbishing and improving existing tourist infrastructure, preserving and promoting the island’s unique ecosystem and recovering traditional industries such as agriculture and fishing ..

From the Financial Times special report on Spain 2004 (subscription required)

Elsewhere in Europe, such frothiness would lead to a hard fall. But there are unique factors in Spain which would explain the sustained demand for homes, and which may shield it from a violent crash.

The strong demand for homes is underpinned by a rising population (thanks to a large influx of immigrants), A sharp growth in employment, up 22% since 1995, and the demand for retirement or holiday homes from sun-starved north Europeans ..

From the Financial Times special report on Spain 2004 (subscription required)

The ECB estimates the average increase in residential property prices across the euro area in 2003 was 7.2 per cent, saying that this is the fourth consecutive year with increases of around 6-7 per cent and that growth rates “are currently close to their highest point since the early 1990s.”

Between 1999 and 2003, housing prices increased at arate 4 to 5 percentage points higher than the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices, says the report.

In the case of Spain, housing prices jumped 17.3 per cent in 2003, the largest increase in the euro area and some 2.4 times the euro-wide average. The country also tops the list for the rate of increase over the five-year period from 1999 to 2003.

“Spain, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Greece experienced substantial and above euro area average increases” during that period, according to the ECB. The data for 2003 indicates price increases slowed down in the Netherlands, Greece and Ireland. “However, in Spain, residential property prices accelerated further in 2003:’ says the report, which goes on to state that “the latest available quarterly data for 2004 confirm the strong increases” in Spain.

Read the full monthly bulletin from the European Central Bank

The slow and relaxed pace of life looks set to continue to attract buyers for years to come, according to a new survey published by Mintel last month. Spain scores top marks throughout the survey, with the country accounting for 41% of overseas properties bought by Britons. The report predicts that the UK Spanish property market will almost double within the next five years, with a further 99,000 Brits buying property during this time.

But it’s not just in the property market where Spain is beating off the competition. 52 million tourists visited Spain in 2003 allowing the country to overtake the United States as the second most popular tourist destination in the world. And with 60% of tourists staying in private homes, the rental market is at its strongest. The Costa del Sol is enjoying its fair share of the glory. Marbella, Torremolinos and Benalmadena alone absorbed 64% of Spanish tourism last year, confirming the coast’s status as the only Mediterranean tourist destination with a 12-month season.

In 2004, a total of 640,000 new homes were built in Spain. This represents no less than 40% of those initiated in Europe (Ministry of Employment), and predictions show that two million homes will have to be built in Spain over the next six years to cater for demand. Prices will continue to rise throughout this period. In 2003, the price of resale homes in the Malaga province rose by 24% while new property rose by 18.5% (Diario Sur 26/02/04). Whilst such dramatic rises aren’t expected to continue, Spanish property prices are still increasing between 10-12% per annum, and yet they’re still only 85% of the EU average ..

More info at VIVA Estates

My wife and I are thinking of purchasing a property in Andalusia for part-time retirement. We have heard about a “land grab” law in Valencia and believe that there is a similar one in Andalusia. We have asked three different lawyers and have had three different answers – but I understand this is normal in Spain.

Please can you tell us if there is such a law in Andalusia and, if so, does it affect both rural and urban land? Also, what is the name of the law?

Lorna Vestey writes: The present “land grab” law is Ley Reguladora de la Actividad Urbanistica (LRAU). There is a new, improved version (LAU) not yet in force. However, political pressure exists in Spain and Brussels for real changes to deal with inherent inequities in such legislation.

While Valencian LRAU is particularly draconian, other regions, including Andalusia, do have their own versions. The law was intended both to ensure that developments had proper infrastructure (drains, road access, etc) and to enable suitable “rustica” rural land to be reclassified and developed.

Developers can get planning permission for property which they do not own, but LRAU can also allow compulsory purchase of property at a discounted price or the charging of the owner for “urbanization”, usually infrastructure improvements which may or may not be desirable. This leaves plenty of scope for abuse.

If you buy property on land already classified as “urban”, you need not fear this. Most developments are in “urbanizations”. Forget “urban” meaning exclusively in or of a town or city, think more of approved development with proper roads and services. However, beware unauthorised “urbanizations” where properties have been built without planning permission. This has been done extensively from the mid-1970s. It may or may not be possible to get them legalised. This, and the amount of time and money required to do so, depends on the local council. While they are still not officially “urban”, they may be vulnerable to demolition or “land grab”. A British/ Valencian property specialists’ website contains clear and extensive information on LRAU.

In Andalusia, recent changes to planning laws mean that virtually all new houses must be built on land designated as “urban”. Some developers are apparently not only desperately trying to sell illegal properties built on non-urban land in anticipation of permissions which they will now never obtain, but are also still building them and trying to get around the law by registering the properties as “agricultural” buildings (which can legally be built on “rustica” land). They tell the purchaser they can get the registration changed to a house after 10 years, but the law allowing this may well change in the interim. Some helpful Andalusian information is given by specialists in that region

Full story at the Telegraph Property Clinic