The average price of a second-hand property in Spain has risen by 16% in the past year. This is largely due to high demand and limited supply (idealista/data, December 2025). It’s no surprise then that the question “how to negotiate property price?” is currently one of the highest ranking search terms in Spain, according to Answer the Public. With this in mind home owners are asking themselves, is negotiation inevitable? Is there a way to avoid haggling the price when selling a property?
Unfortunately, it seems this trend is here to stay. According to a recent study by Alfa Inmobiliaria, 9 out of 10 prospective buyers ask for a price reduction, with the average negotiation margin being around 10% of the property’s value. In today’s market a flat in Barcelona under 100 m² currently costs around €500,000. So a 10% reduction could mean a loss of up to €50,000 for the seller. It’s no wonder that many owners try to offset future price reductions by increasing the initial asking price by 15% to 20%. Unfortunately, this only exacerbates the situation.
Homes Buyers Haggle Over
Prices of second-hand homes, and consequently negotiation factors, are based on the location, size, and orientation of the property, combined with current market trends. Any of these factors can serve as justification for requesting a discount on the listed price. But what’s most interesting is that, contrary to what you might expect, the more valuable the property, the less likely it is to be haggled over. In other words, price negotiation tends to be more common for lower-value properties in less sought-after areas. While this might seem counterintuitive, it makes sense. High-end and luxury homes are unique; it’s almost impossible to find another quite like them. Because of this, potential buyers are less inclined to negotiate, and it’s much more common for the listed price to be accepted without conditions.
The main conclusion that can be drawn from this is that, if you want to sell without lowering the price, you need to make your property unique. If potential buyers know they won’t find another like yours, they’ll be more hesitant to argue over the price. Put simply, once a buyer falls in love with a house, they tend to rationalise other factors like location, size, and price. You need to make buyers fall in love with your property. But how?
The Role of Home Staging
The answer is home staging. This technique of preparing homes for sale is becoming increasingly popular in Spain, and the numbers speak for themselves. According to data from the Spanish Home Staging Association, home staging helps you sell your home for more: “In 48% of cases, the price remains the same, but in 52%, the selling price increases by up to 25%” (AHSE, 2018). In other words, the seller has been forced to reduce their price in 0% of cases. When you consider that the average cost of a home staging project is less than 1% of the average sale price, and compare it with the 10% that could be lost in a negotiation, the investment works out to be extremely cost-effective.
Emotion Sells
But why does home staging work? Because we humans are emotional creatures, especially when looking for a new home. Home staging professionals understand that selling a house is more complicated than selling a set of bricks. It’s about selling a lifestyle, the dream of an ideal future. That’s why this innovative technique is much more than painting walls or updating furniture. It’s about paying attention to every detail, creating scenes in which buyers can start to imagine the property as their own, their future home. It’s easy to haggle over prices when you think there are plenty of other options available. But if you believe you could lose a unique opportunity, would you really dare to ask for a discount?
The current property market is a seller’s market, due to high demand and limited supply. However, with high prices still on the rise, negotiation is becoming increasingly common. If you want to sell your home at the best price, you’ll need to appeal to the buyer’s emotions. The best customer is the one who’s in love with the product. So, the real question is – is your home ready to make buyers fall in love?
