Investing in residential property in Gibraltar

In times of rising inflation, political uncertainty and high interest rates, is it a good time to invest in Gibraltar’s property market?

Over the last twenty years, property development in Gibraltar has been off the scale with supply being unable to keep up with demand locally and from investors.

Now, there are an unprecedented number of proposed development projects that have received planning permission - the Summer/Autumn issue of Gibraltar Business Magazine sets out a non-exhaustive list of over 20 of the larger upcoming developments. These include mixed use developments, hotels and residential developments.

There are also two large scale developments on the horizon – Eastside and Victoria Quays – which will require land reclamation and are therefore a number of years away from coming onto the market.

Hassans hosted the REAL2023 Conference – The future of property investment in Gibraltar, which brought together key professionals in the property industry in Gibraltar - valuers, banks, developers and investors. It was interesting to hear Robert Cohen and Richard Buckley from MJ Group International highlight some key macro-economic trends and how these impact Gibraltar’s property market.

Coming out of the Covid-19 pandemic, in 2022 Gibraltar saw rising property prices, low interest rates and soaring demand for off-plan properties with speculators seeing high returns on their investments on resales. 2023 was a period of uncertainty with elections in Spain and in Gibraltar and rising interest rates which resulted in more realistic pricing and longer marketing periods.

The hope is that 2024 will see a decline in inflation and no further hikes to interest rates as well as a signed Treaty between Gibraltar and the European Union. This will result in certainty of frontier fluidity which will likely increase investor confidence in the Gibraltar property market.

Working in Gibraltar’s thriving property sector is exciting and I look forward to continuing working with lenders and developers, investors and occupiers as we bring in 2024.