If you’re from a major country with a competitive real estate market, chances are you’re used to accessing a handful, or maybe even a single online portal where nearly all of the current real-estate stock is listed. Finding Andorran property for sale is a little trickier.

In this article we’ll run you through:

  • the challenges you will likely face when looking for property to buy in Andorra,
  • the best way to find potential properties,
  • the best Andorran property website portals to check, and
  • using real estate agents to find what you really want.

Challenges of Finding Properties for Sale in Andorra

To start, in a tiny country with an under supply of property, there’s an oversupply of agents. If property agents in Andorra only listed their own stock, their windows (and websites) would be bare.

Instead, many real estate agents will “re-list” properties of other agents on their own website, often with a price difference to drum up some interest. When you call to inquire, they’ll scramble to figure out who they “borrowed” that listing from.

Quite often the property has sold, is reserved, or the original listing agent is blocking viewings to maintain a high percent of commission.

In some cases the owner cannot even be found as one agent has re-listed the property from a re-listed listing 5 times over, all with different prices, few of which represent an amount of money the seller is looking for.

The Simplest, Most Complicated Solution

So where can you find property for sale in Andorra? The simple answer is to find an agent you can trust to help you in your search for the exact property you want.

Simple advice to give, but often difficult in practice. Many new Andorran residents have been amazed at “how difficult it is to buy a quality property here”.

Some agents have been known to try and sell newcomers properties that have been listed for sale for a long time and usually with a special expat-rate inflated price tag.

Usually this is due to the price either being out of step with Andorra’s property market, simply being the wrong property type, or being unfavourable due to location, lack of sunlight or overall condition, or a combination of many of these factors.

When the buyer pushes back and suggests other properties, it’s not uncommon for Andorran property agents to be unaware of these properties listed for sale.

So if you’re looking to find the best property you can get, at a reasonable price in Andorra, always be wary about who you are working with.

Where to Look

There are 3 main online property portals to check for listings that, in theory should have all of the properties in the country. We use the word in theory because in practice they will display around 80% of Andorran properties for sale at best.

Below we’ll look at where you can find properties for sale in Andorra with relative ease. In each example we mention the percentage of the market it covers.

Please be aware, these numbers change regularly and there’s some guesswork involved. As a portion of the Andorran property market changes hands via private sale, no one person really knows how many properties are for sale at any one time!

Busco Casa

https://www.buscocasa.ad
Amount of market covered: 70%

Busco Casa is an Andorran-run listing site. It’s generally difficult to either search with some form of accuracy or filter results.

Despite being a difficult to use interface, a lot of listing agents in the country use the site, so it can be useful.

Busco Casa tends to have the highest number of out-of-date listings.

Habitaclia

https://www.habitaclia.com
Amount of market covered: 60%

Dominating Catalunya, Habitaclia tried to spread it’s wings into Spain with limited success. Today, it predominantly lists properties in Catalunya, the Balearic Islands and Andorra.

Immediately you’ll find the site much more pleasant to use than Busco Casa. Somehow they’ve managed to get higher quality photos from Andorran property agents, which helps to save plenty of time.

Do keep in mind the listing agent advertising the property may not be the one with the listing. If you dig deep enough you’ll possibly find the same property on Habitaclia 2-3 times, often with different pricing.

Idealista

https://www.idealista.com
Amount of market covered: 90%

You could easily mistake Idealista for Habitaclia the site looks so similar. The good news is, it’s because it’s very easy to use and the property listings usually have good quality photos.

Idealista once has its focus mainly on Spain, which was great for looking for properties elsewhere, but unfortunately meant it had the least listings of the 3 websites. Since a few years ago however the listing agents took note to its popularity in Spain, and started to list more aggressively here, now making it the most popular and used property portal in Andorra.

Individual Agents

Regularly checking the websites of individual agents may be a good way to find out about newly listed properties being listed on the market, but even this has many challenges.

To begin with there are 300+ real estate agencies in Andorra; that’s a lot of websites to scan through. Some agents are very slow to add new properties. Others do not list on their own website and only on the portals. Some websites do not work, despite the agencies being fully active.

You will also find that agents tend to have areas of the country that they focus on servicing. An agent selling properties in Andorra la Vella is unlikely to also list properties in el Tarter, just as one in Sant Julià de Lòria will rarely list a property in the Ordino valley.

Buyers Agent

Most expats who move to Andorra will use a local representative to handle their government paperwork, taking care of company formation, residency applications, and usually helping them to settle into the country.

Some of these professionals also have their hand in real estate too, like ourselves.

This is often where the best deals lie, though they can be few and far between.

Finding Your Property in Andorra

It can take time, and there will be hassles, but the end result will be worth it. More and more people are choosing to live in Andorra for a reason; it’s a remarkable place.

Keep an eye on the property portal sites and contact us if you are interested to buy. Before long you’ll find the right property in the best place (for you).

Of course, don’t hesitate to contact us with any questions or concerns surrounding property for sale in Andorra.

Feature Image: Shachar Geva, Encamp1, CC BY-SA 3.0