Alicante is at the head on the creation of new employment in the Valencian Community. The revival in construction gains more strength in our province, managing to attract not only most of the projects but, also the largest ones, building twice as many houses as Valencia and Castellón together.

Two out of three new houses in the Valencian Community are built in Alicante towns. This is evidenced by the latest data provided by the Ministry of Development, revealing that while in the first five months of the year in Alicante some 2,877 homes have been started (38% more than in the same period in the previous year), in Valencia 1,070 and in Castellón only 420 houses. Alicante is concentrating 65.8% of the total new build.

Construccion

Different speeds

If we take a look to the figures provided by the Colegio Oficial de Aparejadores, Arquitectos Técnicos e Ingenieros de Edificación de Alicante (COAATIEA), the number of new houses is even greater: until June, nearly reached up to 4,000 homes (3,919).

Despite the differences between provinces, the truth is that both in Castellón and in Valencia the reactivation is also a fact. So it is that in the first one, only in the last year the real estate activity has increased up to a 133%, while happens the same in Valencia reaching a 53%. Despite these data, Alicante practically triples the construction in Valencia, to the point that for every new house in this province, 2.6 are rising in the south.

Something similar happens regarding finished projects. If in the first five months Alicante completed 1,865 buildings, which meant a growth of 25% over the previous year, in Valencia 628 and in Castellón, just 77. In other words, Alicante accounts almost 75% of the more than 2,500 homes completed until May.

Within our province, we can highlight the city of Alicante that, with 801 houses started, accounts 20.4% of the total in the first semester of 2018, which shows a surprising 106% increase over the previous year. On second place is the town of Orihuela, with 361 houses and, third, Torrevieja, with 330 houses started.

Tourism and wealth

The tourism industry has a lot to do with this exponential growth. The boost of residential tourism, both among nationals and foreigners, is mainly located on the coastal fringe from Torrevieja to Dénia. Elaborating on the location of the business improvements on the coast, statistics stand out from the Vega Baja, passing through Alicante and its surroundings, to the Marinas.

Another positive fact, as highlighted by the COAATIEA, is the greater uniformity of housing throughout Alicante. Thus, if in 2013 the Vega Baja was concentrating more than 75% of the housing started, now is around 36%. Does this mean this activity has decreased in this region? On the contrary, it has almost doubled, but the rest of the province has experienced very significant growths.

These data are undoubtedly good news, since they attract wealth to the province. In this sense from January to May, only the new build has brought an investment of almost 350 million euros to our community, a much higher figure than the 236 million of the previous year.

The recovery is a fact. The figures speak for themselves: the number of housing started in the city of Alicante compared to the one before the crisis (2008) is 174% higher, compared to the 40% increase in Orihuela or 13% in Dénia. The other side of the coin are Alcoy and Elche, with falls of 71% and 82%, respectively.