I’m buying an apartment: new or second hand?

The Spanish government information regarding 2018 highlights 2 important things: firstly, the houses and apartments sales are rising; secondly, 9 out of 10 apartments that are sold are second-hand houses. Despite of that fact, in the past few months there have been some new-build projects. That is why, if you are thinking about buying an apartment you could be doubting between a second-hand or a new one. In this post we want to give you some elements to help you decide.

The acquisition of a place to live is the most important investment of our lives. So that, the price can be one of the most decisive element that might help us decide if we want a second-hand or a new flat. The second-hand apartments have a lower square metre price than the new ones. In addition, the taxation system also favours the second-hand flats because the VAT is higher in the new houses, which is a 10% (the official protection housing has only a 4% of VAT). Referring to the second-hand apartments, the Spanish tax on capital transfers tend to be lower on these types of flats. You should also know that when talking about granting a credit to buy the apartment, being new or second-hand is not something that could be considered to grant it.

However, the price is not the only thing to take into account when deciding. A new flat – with no imperfections – is ready for you to move in. We don’t have to think about adding more expenses like we have to do in a second-hand apartment where we are going to need a budget to refurbish and update it. And just one more fact related to economic issues: new apartments are built with innovative and more efficient materials so the annual energetic expenses should be less than in the second-hand buildings.

The price of the flat – second-hand or new – will be determined by its location, size and distribution. Location: second-hand apartments are normally far from the centric part of the city, but can have communal areas to compensate that. Size: the second-hand apartments can be bigger with wider rooms. Distribution: the new houses can have modern solutions to optimize the available space.