Average house price Spain: five official sources, five answers
"The square metre costs X" — the question is who says so. Five official bodies in Spain publish prices, and they arrive at different numbers because they measure different things.
In short
Which source shows real transaction prices?
The notaries and the land registrars. Both rest on completed contracts — the notaries on the deed, the registrars on entry in the land register.
Which source is fastest?
The notaries. The notary is the first point at which a purchase is recorded; registration follows on average 45 days later.
Which number is not a market price?
The Catastro's valor de referencia and the ministry's valor tasado. One is a tax figure, the other a valuation figure.
Which source gives the right house price in Spain?
There is no single right figure, but five official sources measuring different things. Two of them show prices actually paid: the notaries, who publish the price declared in the deed, monthly and down to postcode level, and the land registrars, who capture the same purchases once entered in the register — on average 45 days later. The INE turns those same notarial data into an index, expressly not a price in euros. The housing ministry runs two series: valuations produced by appraisal firms, and, from notarial data, transactions down to municipality level. The Catastro's valor de referencia is a tax figure set once a year that by law is meant to sit below market value. So before comparing numbers, you first need to know which of them you are looking at.
Why five sources give five numbers
A house price is not a natural constant. It depends on what is measured — a declared purchase price, a valuation, a tax figure —, when it is measured and how it is calculated. All five bodies below are official or semi-official, all five are right, and five different numbers still result. Quote one without knowing the method and you are comparing apples with pears.
The notaries: the declared purchase price, monthly, down to the postcode
The basis is the Índice Único Informatizado Notarial, the database of every transaction executed before a Spanish notary. What is measured is the price declared in the escritura pública — not an asking price and not a valuation. The Portal Estadístico del Notariado reports price per square metre, average floor area, average amount and the number of transactions, updated monthly for the trailing twelve months, filterable by property type and searchable down to postcode level. Because the notary is the first point of capture, this is the most current of the five.
MarktdatenConsejo General del Notariado, Portal Estadístico del Notariado (penotariado.com) · Stand 23.10.2025
The land registrars: the same purchases, 45 days later, calculated differently
The Colegio de Registradores publishes the Estadística Registral Inmobiliaria quarterly. The reference date is not the deed but entry in the land register — on their own figures a mean of 45 days later. The headline measure is the IPVVR, a repeat-sales index: only properties sold more than once are compared. That removes quality differences but covers only part of the market. The same report also gives an average price in euros per square metre, split between new build and existing stock.
MarktdatenColegio de Registradores, Estadística Registral Inmobiliaria, Q4 2025
The INE: an index, not a price
The Índice de Precios de Vivienda from the Instituto Nacional de Estadística measures the quarterly movement of deed prices at constant quality, calculated from the same notarial data supplied through ANCERT. The method combines stratification with hedonic regression, separately for new and second-hand housing. The key point: the IPV is an index only. Its own methodology says so — measuring price levels falls outside its scope. It appears around 70 days after quarter end, nationally and by autonomous region, not by municipality.
MarktdatenInstituto Nacional de Estadística, Índice de Precios de Vivienda, methodology
The ministry: valuations — and the only figure for non-residents
The housing ministry (MIVAU) runs two separate series. The Estadística de Valor Tasado de Vivienda rests on valuations by appraisal firms under Orden ECO/805/2003, quarterly, in euros per built square metre. That is expressly not a transaction price but the figure from the valuation world — the same world your tasación comes from. The second series, Transacciones Inmobiliarias, rests on notarial data and reports the number and value of purchases down to municipality level. And it is the only one of the five that separates residents, resident foreigners and non-resident foreigners.
MarktdatenMIVAU, Estadística de Valor Tasado de Vivienda · MIVAU, Transacciones Inmobiliarias
The Catastro: a tax figure, not a market price
The valor de referencia is set annually by the Dirección General del Catastro, by resolution published by 30 October for the following year. The legal basis is Ley 11/2021. It is derived from the purchase prices reported by notaries — but it is not a market price: a factor de minoración is set by order so that it does not exceed market value. It is a tax base, property-specific rather than statistical. What that means when buying is set out under purchase costs.
RechtsquelleTRLCI, disposición final tercera as amended by Ley 11/2021 · Sede Electrónica del Catastro
Which source for what
| Source | What it measures | € per m² | Frequency | Granularity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Notaries | declared purchase price | yes | monthly | postcode |
| Registrars | repeat sales + average | yes | quarterly | province |
| INE | price movement, constant quality | no, index | quarterly | region |
| MIVAU valor tasado | appraisers' valuations | yes | quarterly | province |
| MIVAU transacciones | number and value of purchases | no, total value | quarterly | municipality |
| Catastro | tax figure per property | — | annually | property |
Two of them matter for a mortgage. The notaries tell you what was paid in your zone — the figure the valuer works from. The ministry's valor tasado shows the level valuations sit at in your province. The rest is market observation.
For buyers from abroad: the figure nobody else quotes
Two official bodies record foreign buyers separately, and they measure different things. The registrars devote a chapter of each quarterly report to the nationality of buyers, with shares, a ranking of nationalities and a breakdown by province. The ministry instead splits by tax residence: residents, resident foreigners, non-resident foreigners.
These are not the same — a German national living in Spain appears as "foreign" in one statistic and as "resident" in the other. Read a figure about the share of foreign buyers and it is worth knowing which of the two it is.
Related pages
House prices in Spain
The notaries' recorded sale prices — down to postcode level, and what they mean for your budget.
Tasación and lending value
Why the bank lends against the lower of purchase price and valuation — and what the gap costs.
Purchase costs in Spain
What comes on top of the purchase price — and where the valor de referencia sets the tax.
Frequently asked questions
Which source should I check before buying?
Why are portal prices so far off?
Is the valor de referencia what my property is worth?
Why does the INE not publish a price in euros?
Does Portugal have the same?
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