The real timeline of a sale: from listing to signing at the notary
How long does it take to sell in Spain? It is the first question almost every seller asks, and the honest answer is not a number. A Spanish sale is made up of stages of very different natures: some depend entirely on you, only one escapes everybody, and the last is a contractual countdown. Knowing which is which lets you push where pushing actually works.
Before going to market: the file. This is the most underestimated stage, and yet the only one you control from start to finish. You need to request the nota simple from the Registro de la Propiedad, have the energy certificate drawn up — usually a few days —, check the cédula de habitabilidad, whose processing time varies a great deal from one municipality to another, and gather the latest IBI receipts, the certificate from the homeowners' association, your purchase escritura and the invoices for any works. Allow a few weeks. Sellers who skip this stage meet it again later, at the worst possible moment: when a buyer is waiting.
Going to market. Professional photographs, video where it is worth it, writing the listing, setting the price and publishing: one week is enough once the property is ready to be shown. That week matters more than it looks, because the first two or three weeks online concentrate the peak of attention. A property that is poorly presented or poorly positioned wastes its only window of freshness.
Finding a buyer. This is the unpredictable phase, and the only one where no average will help you: the time depends on the price relative to real comparables in the neighbourhood, on the season — the Costa Blanca has pronounced cycles —, on the type of property and its condition. The indicator that counts is not a national statistic but your own viewing rate over the first three weeks. Few viewings almost always signals a price problem; many viewings without an offer signals a presentation or condition problem.
From offer to contract. An accepted offer is usually formalised in two steps: a reservation agreement, which takes the property off the market against a modest deposit, then the contrato de arras, the real preliminary contract. It is the arras that sets the deadline for going to the notary. That deadline is freely negotiated; in practice it often falls between one and three months, and towards the upper end when the buyer needs a Spanish mortgage.
The buyer's profile weighs on the timeline at least as much as yours. A cash buyer can sign very quickly. A foreign buyer, however, first has to obtain a NIE and, in most cases, open a Spanish bank account in order to issue the banker's draft on signing day: two simple steps that nonetheless take weeks when they are started too late. If they are financing with a Spanish mortgage, add the valuation of the property, the assessment of their file and the legal formalities of mortgage lending. This is therefore a question to ask from the very first offer, before even discussing the price: how are you paying, and how far along are you?
Between the arras and the notary, the calendar is no longer yours alone. The buyer's lawyer checks the nota simple and the absence of charges; if a loan is still running on the property, you ask your bank for the debt certificate and prepare the release; the association's certificate has to be recent; the buyer's bank commissions its valuation (tasación) and, where a mortgage is involved, the law requires pre-contractual information to be delivered and a prior visit to the notary a few days before signing. That is what mechanically lengthens financed sales.
Signing day. Seller and buyer, or their representatives holding a poder notarial, sign the escritura pública de compraventa. The price is paid, most often by banker's draft; the keys change hands; the meters are read. If you are not a Spanish tax resident, the buyer hands you only 97% of the price: the remaining 3% goes to the tax authorities through the Modelo 211, within the following month. The notary notifies the Registro electronically the same day.
After signing, it is not over. The municipal plusvalía has to be declared within a short window, generally thirty working days. A non-resident seller regularises the actual capital gain through the Modelo 210, within four months of the sale. You also have to transfer or cancel the water, electricity and gas contracts, inform the association and settle the question of the current year's IBI: it is owed by whoever owns the property on 1 January, and how it is shared is a matter of agreement between the parties. Registering the escritura at the Registro is the buyer's job.
What can actually be shortened? The file, by preparing it before going to market rather than after. The price, by anchoring it to real comparables from the outset. The back-and-forth, by appointing a single point of contact and answering the buyer's lawyer within twenty-four hours. And the logistics, by signing a power of attorney if you live abroad. These markers are indicative and depend on your municipality, your property and the market. At Alveo Properties, we set out this timeline from the moment the mandate is signed, with each party's deadlines on it.
