Methodology & Data Sources
How we collect, process and present European real-estate market data.
Data sources
| Source category | What it provides | Coverage | Update |
|---|---|---|---|
| Public asking-price aggregates | Price percentiles (P10–P90), counts, mean — derived from public real-estate portal filter statistics, not individual listings | ES, FR, PT, IT, GB (per-city) | Weekly |
| National statistics offices (income) | Net household income and related demographics | ES (per-municipality), FR (per-commune), PT/IT/GB (per-region) | Yearly |
| National statistics offices (demographics) | Population, age, gender, growth | ES, FR, PT, IT, GB | Yearly |
| National / EU house price indices | Price index (2015=100), YoY, QoQ | ES (regional), FR/PT/IT (country via Eurostat), GB (country via Land Registry) | Monthly / Quarterly |
| Official property-transaction registries | Count, median sold price, foreign-buyer share where published | ES (MIVAU), FR (DVF), GB (HM Land Registry), PT (INE PT), plus LV, NO, SE, FI, EE, SI, DK | Monthly / Quarterly |
Derived metrics
Gross Rental Yield (%)
yield = median_monthly_rent × 12 / median_sale_price × 100
Both medians come from the same property subtype (apartment) and location slice to minimize mix bias. Yields outside 2–12% are flagged as outliers — typical Spanish residential yields are 4–7%.
Affordability (years)
affordability = median_sale_price / annual_household_income
Interpretation: how many years of total household income are needed to buy the median property. Under 6 years is affordable; over 15 years is highly unaffordable. Tourist-heavy markets often show high affordability figures that reflect international buyer demand rather than local purchasing power.
Asking vs Sold Gap (%)
gap = (listing_median − mivau_avg_sold) / mivau_avg_sold × 100
Positive gap means listings are priced above actual sold prices — the larger the gap, the more negotiation room. 5–15% is typical; over 20% signals an overpriced asking market. Only measurable at provincia level (MIVAU does not publish per-municipality sold prices).
Market Momentum
Year-over-year price change from INE IPV (regional, CCAA level). Used to compare city-level trends against official regional benchmarks.
Foreign Buyer Share
Share of residential purchases made by non-Spanish residents, reported quarterly by MIVAU at provincia level. Buyer nationality breakdown beyond "foreign / domestic" is not published by MIVAU.
Update frequency & freshness
- Daily: materialized views refresh (market statistics, derived metrics)
- Quarterly: price indices and sold-transaction registries fetched within the month following each quarter
- Yearly: income and demographics refreshed on each national release
- Monthly: automated market reports generated on the 3rd
Known limitations
- Spain coverage is the deepest: per-municipality asking-price statistics and full integration of national income / demographics / price-index / transaction data. France, Portugal, Italy and the UK have per-city asking-price statistics plus country- or region-level enrichment.
- Foreign-buyer data, where available, is typically published at a regional (not per-city) level and we display the corresponding regional figure.
- Rankings apply a minimum sample threshold of 30 data points per city to exclude thin-data outliers.
- Price percentiles are derived via binary search over public price filters, not from individual property records. Precision is €500–€1,000 per percentile.
- District-level enriched data is available for Spanish cities. Other countries currently show city-level only.
Not advice
Everything on this site is market information, not financial, legal or tax advice. Property investment involves material risk and country-specific regulation. Consult a licensed professional before acting on any data shown here.