Prices in the Balearics for warehousing, shop and restaurant units, industrial buildings and garages are among the highest in Spain. As with housing, a factor with these prices is scarcity of land, the president of the API association of real estate agents, José Miguel Artieda, pointing out that the rise in prices for garages and parking spaces - either for sale of rent - has in fact been greater than that for housing over recent years.
In the case of garages, the average price per square metre in 2022 was 1,368 euros. Only the Basque Country - 1,418 euros - had a higher average. The increase in price compared with 2021 was eleven per cent, the highest in Spain and almost twice the national average (5.8%).
For storage, the price increase last year, according to figures from the College of Registrars, was 24.7%, whereas the national average was only 3.5%. The average price was 1,297 euros per square metre, second behind Madrid with 1,378.
Toni Fuster, president of the PIMECO retail trade association, says that prices are becoming "unaffordable" for small businesses, and he blames this on large companies. "Franchises, large foreign companies want to be here, especially in tourist areas such as the centre of Palma. This has had a knock-on effect that has led to unaffordable prices for small businesses." The average price in the Balearics is 1,597 euros per square metre - the second highest after Madrid. The increase last year was more modest (8.4%), while there was far less disparity with the national figure, 7.1%.
The president of the CAEB Restaurants Association, Alfonso Robledo, says that "the same thing is happening to us as with housing". Foreign brands "are taking over the entire coast." "There are many big brands that are established in Sweden or Germany and they open their franchises so that tourists can also find them here. They don't care if their billing is low, so long as the mother company continues to function well."
As for industrial buildings, prices rose by 32% in 2022 - the national average was 9.7% - to an average of 1,049 euros per square metre, the highest in Spain, for which the national figure was 460 euros.