Engel & Völkers: Barcelona and Valencia

Engel & Völkers was founded half a century ago in 1977 in Hamburg in Germany, offering luxury real-estate services. It’s network crosses more than 35 countries in around 1,100 locations worldwide, with over 16,700 employees. As a German premium brand they promote the values: “Competence, Exclusivity, and Passion”.

I       Engel & Völkers the company         

They expanded internationally in 1990, Mallorca in Spain, and more recently luxury yachts. They record over 8,000 annual sales and ongoing rentals across Spain. In Barcelona they have 10 agencies, 1,000 properties for sale and 82 for rent, and 3 offices in Valencia with 400 rentals and 250 properties, approaching 900 in the greater Valencia area.  

II      At a Glance

With over 80 listed rentals and 1,000 listed sales properties in Barcelona and still owned by Christian Völkers, this giant real estate giant focuses on the top-end properties in premier neighbourhoods. However, their quality is hampered by low ethics and vulture-like behaviour across franchises and agencies, prompting us to give a rating of 6.2/10.

Complaints include charging a “Shoppers Fee” which has already been paid by the landlord, and multi-agency fees. They are difficult to contact, have transparency issues, and fake listings and “human verification loops”, contradicting their advertised innovative pioneer status. There are also legal issues with unregistered agents, and a “GDPR Violation “.

III     Operations & Branding – Engel & Völkers

Over its half century of business now worth over €1million in revenue, Engel & Völkers has a network of agencies and franchises including brokerage, hospitality and consultancy extending across several related areas of services:

• Sales and Leaseback
• Financing
• Property Valuations
• Renovation Consulting
• Searches and Acquisitions
• Hotel Developments and Consultancy
• Investment Consulting

Engel & Völkers have a huge number of offices and a good level of promotion through Fotocasa with over 2,300 properties for sale, and over 200 rentals, as well as being prominent on Idealista, dominating the “Luxury” properties and the “Investment” markets. Idealista frequently features top exclusive homes in Marbella’s luxury market, and reports on their high volume of foreign buyers, for example: 66% of their buyers in the Valencia Old Town.

Engel & Völkers extends their representation through franchises. However, this leads to inconsistency of service quality. There are also differences between zones, like the exclusive high-end foreigners’ luxury island-market of Mallorca versus the more sedate Valencia with more Spanish buyers on the mainland.

IV    Barcelona & Valencia

Real Estate is a less regulated industry in Spain, creating issues.

Unregistered Agent Issue: Around 400 agents in Barcelona were found unregistered with the authority, AICAT, and employed as freelancers while functioning as employees. This means that Engel & Völkers wasn’t paying social security and other payments. They are appealing a penalty of €16m on the grounds that they dispensed with this practice in 2024. Valencia courts previously upheld their judgement with a penalty of €6.4m.

Confirm that the individual agent is registered with AICAT. While an agency may be AICAT registered, individual agents might not be. There is also no legal requirement for employers to train their staff.

Rental Inefficiencies: In particular in Valencia, agency responsiveness has been reported as deficient, to the point of non-existent in many cases.In general, Valencia is not considered an optimal place for customer service. Add to this a glutted industry, there is little incentive for agents to go out of their way on anything but certain deals. Many properties never even make it to the advertising portals, with a high 15% being snapped up within 24 hours. Agents simply don’t have to work hard for their income.

The end result for potential buyers is that responsiveness and service can be od extremely poor quality, with weeks passing before a query has a response. One customer defined it as the “poorest experience” across “5 different countries over the last 10 years”

That having been said, Engel & Völkers were described as having slightly better service from a very bad bunch. This poor quality of responsiveness is the result of an extreme shortage of apartments in Valencia.

“Shopper Fees”: Commissions vary around Spain, but in both Barcelona and Madrid it should be around 3-5% of the sale price (the deluxe markets such as in Marbella and Ibiza can be as much as 10%), and paid by the seller through the sale price. Unaware international buyers can be paying most of this, and more than once. If the property is multi-listed (listed with different photos on different portals) the buyer is likely to be paying for 3 commissions, not one. VAT (IVA) is charged in addition to this.

Engel & Völkers claim that their “shoppers fee” is the commission, but in fact the commission is already being paid through the asking price – and maybe more than once. It is a legal grey area, but it is also a fleecing of unaware foreigners for extra fees. Be wary of this double/triple-commission trap.

They have defined the “shopper fee” as being for directly assisting the client to find a suitable property, on top of their agent fee for those who just tick the boxes in the portals, but this is what the agent fee is for, making the “shopper fee” a doubling up of fees, a parallel to the purchase price including fees for more than one agency.

Always confirm normal fees. Use legal advice to ensure rights and avoid paying extra fees in the expat fee trap

GDPR Violation: An email was sent to bulk clients without BCC. This exposed confidentiality and personal information without permission in violation of the privacy act.

Feedback:

Google Maps – ranks 4.0-4.3/5 across Barcelona, (Passeig de Gràcia and Diagonal offices), and a 4.5/5 in Valencia. A review of 3.4/5 makes me wonder which are the franchises, how much quality of service varies per agency, and if the non-franchised ones push more for reviews. There are a significant number of negatives, mostly complaining about lack of responsiveness and lace of transparency. Google Maps will always have a bias towards the entry stage, not exit or ongoing tenancy where more issues are likely to arise. It is also unverified, which makes it susceptible to doctoring – E&V may promote feedback there and ignore other options, knowing that initial satisfaction at finding a property is more certain, while ignoring ongoing and exit issues that might follow.

Trustpilot – A seriousy low rating of 2.4/5 raises the redflags, but also only 27 reviews on an agency with over 1,000 listings supports the promotion theory. Negatives list lack of transparency, fake listings, unresponsive to contact, GDPR violations and the “shopper fee” charges. Many properties pass through hands behind the scenes, but there are also additional fees, lack of transparency and unprofessional behaviour that raises concerns.

Reddit – This forum usually has solid responses in discussion forums (but no ratings). Comments on Barcelona discuss the problem of getting unregistered and untrained agents, a matter being settled legally through the courts, and complaints of serious inefficiency in Valencia, citing that an enquiry was only answered weeks later. Another complaint called them “Engel & Völkers (or England Vultures)”, a rental version of Starbucks Complaints included fake listings, the “Shopper Fee”, exploitative, and of the leaked client information.

Glassdoor – For an employee perspective, agents gave only 2.8/5 for work satisfaction, citing internal friction and poor management, plus weak values. This likely explains the high turnover, making continued contact with the same agent impossible. Unhappy employees are also not as diligent in customer care and efficient paperwork.

V     The Real Estate Market in Spanish

It can be a rollercoaster when renting or buying in another country, with different regulations and norms to what’s familiar. The Spanish market is a less regulated one, leaving customers at the mercy of less ethical agencies. Add to this that the Spanish market is very dynamic with a huge demand compared to the properties available, exacerbated especially by Brits wanting a piece of property in the sun.

On top of profit geared agencies, the market has its own ways of working. Many end up in private sales never even reaching the platforms. Of those that do, as much as 15% of properties are gone within 24 hours of being listed. Intrepid foreigners who are used to thinking things over miss out, and are often left with the less desirable or over-priced ones.

Engel & Völkers have better service than many. However, they still have many features to watch out for. They often charge extra fees as “shopper fees”, and build in extra commissions into the sales prices. With its combination of franchised and non-franchised agencies, there can be dramatic differences in the level of professionalism, transparency, and extra fees.

In addition, there has been a serious issue with many agents being “consulted as a freelancer” when they are treated like an employee, but without the extra social security and health payments, an issue for which Engel & Völkers is paying. As a result, many agents are neither registered, nor trained.

In this case in particular Engel & Völkers, there is the extra lure with its branding that suggests “German effieciency”, while in reality it is just another agency operating within a Spanish context and taking advantage of the “legally grey” areas of Spain, and foreigners who assume a German level of service when that is not given.

With real estate in Spain, it is important to research the details of industry practices, norms, and grey areas, as well a complete check on the property. There are many details which are different to elsewhere, such as that debts are with the property, not always the one who raises the debts, and that an unfurnished house means not even a water heater is left.

Especially with Engel & Völkers, confirm that both the agency and the specific agent are registered with AICAT. Research the Spanish market norms, and thoroughly research the details of any property being purchased, and get legal advice to facilitate this, as well as in the event of any pressures that seem incongruous. Make sure of all fees that you should be paying and how much, as well as fees that you should not be paying. Be ready for lack of contact with a backup plan in case the particular agency/agent is too difficult to work with in any way.

Also look at reviews – Trustpilot and Reddit are likely to have the most authentic responses. Check the negatives as well as the positives.