The price of second-hand housing is growing faster than ever and is just shy of the bubble record.

BarcelonaThe price of resale homes in Catalonia has registered its largest increase since records began: in the third quarter of this year, it soared by 11.7% compared to the previous year. However, this surge has not been enough to surpass the peak prices recorded during the housing bubble at the beginning of the century. It is the only housing indicator that has not yet reached 2007 levels. This is according to the latest data from the Housing Price Index (HPI) published this Friday by the National Institute of Statistics (INE). In Catalonia, the price of new homes grew by 7.6%, well below the most dynamic quarters – the first three months of 2015 saw a 12% increase – and overall – combining new and resale homes – it rose by 11.3% in the third quarter, below the levels recorded in the first half of the year.

Price bubble

Housing prices in Catalonia and throughout Spain have been rising quarter after quarter for eleven consecutive years. And in 2025, this growth has been particularly strong, averaging double digits – roughly 12%. This means that a home that cost €250,000 in 2024 has increased in value to €280,000 in just one year. This trend has led many experts to speak of a price bubble, meaning that housing values are rising faster than other fundamental variables, such as salaries or the overall economy. This is the case in Barcelona and Madrid, which according to a study have been experiencing a bubble since 2023.

"In parallel, we observe that the CPI has shown a much more modest year-on-year evolution. The figure for this CPI increase is 2.7%. Thus, the rise in housing prices far exceeds the evolution of the prices of goods and services, which indicates a real increase in cost, not a real increase in cost," says Òscar Gorgues, manager of the Barcelona Chamber of Urban Property.

However, it must be borne in mind that a price bubble does not mean that there is a bubble like the one that burst in 2008, because, then, what there was was a financial bubble, and now, according to the main monetary authorities, such as the European Central Bank (ECB) or the Bank of Spain, there is also a financial bubble.

In Spain, it's more or less the same.

In the case of Spain as a whole, all indicators—the price of new housing, the price of resale housing, and the combined price of both—have already surpassed the record set during the bubble years. However, the data for the third quarter of this index share a particularity with those of Catalonia: the price of resale housing has grown more than ever, by 11.7% year-on-year, exceeding the previous record of 11.6%, registered in the first quarter of 2007. The price growth in Catalonia, and the increase in the price of all housing—new and resale—was also very high (11.3%), but lower than that recorded in the first half of the year. The forecast is that it will continue to grow.

Given the overall price trend in Spain, and the fact that Catalonia has come close to surpassing the record price for resale housing, registered in the second quarter of 2007, the forecast is that in the next data, those for the fourth quarter, the price of used houses and apartments will finally reach the highest figure in the historical series. "After years of increases, many owners and buyers see that prices will continue to rise, and that has a certain pull effect. Those who hesitate often end up buying at a higher cost," adds Gorgues. This anticipated price behavior is also explained by the ease of financing, as mortgages remain an accessible option after the ECB's expansionary period, and therefore interest rate cuts, which began in September 2013. Since then, the cost of money has been reduced to 8% in the last three meetings.