How much a solarium adds to a new build

What the price lists show

In a new build, a solarium almost always means the top floor: the flat has its own open terrace on the roof, reached by an inner staircase or its own access. To see what it costs, I took four developments where one price list has both a standard flat and a flat with a solarium with the same number of bedrooms, and compared the cheapest available option of each kind.

In L'Alfàs the comparison flat is on the ground floor with a small garden; elsewhere it is a flat on a middle floor. In Benidorm the flat with a solarium is also 12 m² larger in built area, so part of the gap pays for living space. The cleanest comparison is in El Verger: two flats on the same floor with the same area, one with a 45 m² solarium and one without, 44,000 euros apart.

What a square metre of solarium costs

Divide the price gap by the solarium area and you get 740 to 1,020 euros per square metre. A square metre of the flat itself in the same lists costs 3,900 to 6,300 euros. So the open space on the roof sells for five to seven times less than the enclosed space. That makes sense: a solarium is not heated or cooled and does not count as living area, yet on this coast it is usable for most of the year.

Add 10% VAT to the gap: 50,000 euros on the list become 55,000 to pay, plus stamp duty on the same amount.

What it means for a buyer

A solarium pays off for people who will actually use it: breakfast outdoors, outdoor furniture and a shower, friends over without leaving home. If the flat is for two weeks a year, those 50,000 euros usually work harder as a better view or an earlier handover.

Before buying a flat with a solarium, check three things: how you get up there (an inner staircase or a shared roof access), whether there is water and power on top, and what the building specification says about roof waterproofing. The top floor gets hotter in summer, so insulation and air conditioning matter more than on a middle floor.

A solarium lifts the price by a similar amount in different towns: 44,000-53,000 euros in three developments out of four. If the gap in a list is clearly bigger, as in Benidorm, look for what else you are paying for: there the upper flat is also larger. Flats with a private solarium are in the selection a solarium of your own on the roof, and if you prefer space at ground level, see your own metres outdoors. Buying through me costs the same as at the sales office: here is why.