Reviewing the balance at the end of the year in December, Bonnin Sanso, the leading company in the real estate sector in Menorca, can reaffirm the recovery of the real estate sector, having intermediated professionally in more than six hundred operations of purchase and sale. This means that in 2017, on every working day, the group signed three deals. The recovery has also seen an increase in interest in the purchase of building plots, a demand that had practically disappeared in the recent years of the financial crisis. In 2017, these accounted for about 10% of sales .
“All these indicators mean that the levels of activity in 2017 are almost as high as those experienced between 2003 and 2006, three years in which all our business targets were exceeded” explains Xisco Pons, Manager of Bonnin Sanso
Looking at the profiles of the clients for the real estate sector in 2017, more than half of the operations mediated by the Bonnin Sanso group were for domestic buyers while the remainder was among diverse international buyers. In particular, the highest volume of purchases came from the British market, always faithful and committed to Menorca despite the uncertainty of Brexit and whose average purchase price was close to 300,000 euros. In second place was the booming French market , whose average purchase price widely exceeded 700,000 euros. ” In two years, the French buyer has become one of the more frequent, especially for large estates and property, showing high purchasing power and an appreciable involvement with the island,” says Xisco Pons. The rest of the clients were divided among other nationalities, some of them traditional, such as those of the Italian and German markets that are strengthening, and others that are clearly emerging, such as the Central European countries.
Noteworthy Operational Details
While the majority of the deals brokered by Bonnin Sanso was close to 300,000 euros, in 2017 those that exceeded one million euros grew. “While in 2016 we approached 7% of the total signed, last year the company enjoyed 10% of transactions of more than one million euros, an increase of four points” details the manager of Bonnin Sanso. Overall, deals brokered last year of homes of up to 100,000 euros stood above 25%, between 100,000 and 300,000 euros above 30%, for operations between 300,000 and over 500,000, about 15%. In terms of types of property purchased, the most common during 2017 was the acquisition of apartments and flats (approximately 40%), chalets and cottages (around 30%), houses (just over 15%), land ( about 10%) and the rest was split between commercial and retail, parking lots and garages.
Captive market for rentals
One of the negative aspects of 2017 was a shortage of rental property, a problem that was carried over from 2016 with demand outstripping supply by five times. Bonnin Sanso has experienced this shortage continuously every month of the year, and this has caused prices to rise between 10 and 15 percent. “We are entering a captive market where it is not at all easy to find a rental property, which has resulted in an accentuated rise in rental income as well as creating an attractive growth market for any investor “ Comments Xisco Pons.
