The international-school belt: houses, gardens, and a car in the driveway.
Valencia Expat Daily is a free English digest of the city's news, plus the events, deadlines and openings worth knowing about. Five minutes, every morning.
If your children are going to Caxton, the British School or one of the other international schools, this is the belt most of their classmates live in. Detached houses, pools, quiet roads and space. It is suburban life, not city life.
Paterna is a grouped entry, and the halves are different places. Paterna town is dense and ordinary with good transport; La Canyada is a separate low-density chalet development built around the international schools, where a car is not optional.
The catch: A chalet market, not a flat market. Effectively unlivable without a car, and far from anything resembling a night out.
A dozen questions about how you want to live, and we tell you which of the nineteen areas fits, what it costs, and what you would end up complaining about.
Take the two-minute quizThe same twelve measures on all nineteen pages, so two can be read side by side. Our own ratings, not official statistics.
| Getting around without a car | You will need a car |
|---|---|
| How central it is | A long way from the centre |
| Noise | Properly quiet |
| Going out in the evening | Almost nothing open after dinner |
| Green space | Parks and gardens on every side |
| The sea | No beach |
| With children | Built around families |
| English and the international crowd | A sizeable international crowd |
| Space for your money | Far more space for your money |
| Parking | Parking outside your door |
| What you would be renting | Villas and chalets with gardens |
| The buildings | Later blocks with lifts and balconies |
Asking prices in Paterna run around 15 EUR per square metre a month. On the benchmarks we use for all nineteen areas:
That is the 15th highest of the 17 areas we hold reliable asking data for. Bands rather than exact numbers, because a single figure would imply a precision we do not have.
A different measurement does exist for Paterna. The Spanish government's SERPAVI data, which records signed contracts rather than advertisements, put the median for the town at 640 EUR a month for reference year 2024.
Portals publish asking prices, what you will be quoted this month. The government publishes signed contracts, which include everyone who moved in years ago on a rent that never caught up. Both are true at once. Arriving now, budget against the asking price, and see why the two figures disagree for the longer version.
The asking sample for Paterna is thin, so treat the band above as a rough guide rather than a market rate.
Asking prices in Paterna run around 2,318 EUR per square metre to buy. On the same benchmark sizes the rent figures use:
By the square metre that is the 17th most expensive of the 18 areas we hold sale data for, which is not the same as the cheapest to buy in: what a home costs here also depends on how big the homes are. Bands rather than exact numbers, for the same reason as the rents.
Most of what changes hands in Paterna is houses rather than flats, so the house band above is the one to read first.
The sale sample for Paterna is thin, so treat the bands above as a rough guide rather than a market rate.
Buying a resale home in the Comunitat Valenciana carries a transfer tax, ITP, plus notary, land registry and legal costs. The general ITP rate has been 9% since 1 June 2026, cut from 10% by Ley 5/2025; above 1,000,000 EUR the excess is taxed at 11%. Reduced rates of 6% and 3% exist for under-35 first-time buyers, large families and buyers with a disability, but all of them cap the property at 180,000 EUR, which is below almost every band on this page. A new build is different again: no ITP, but IVA at 10% plus AJD at 1.4%.
On a 719,000 EUR 310 m² house in Paterna, which is the middle of the band above:
So the costs on top come to roughly 9.5% to 10.2% of the price. Non-resident lenders generally go to 60–70% of value, so plan on finding 30% or more yourself. Since Spain's 2019 mortgage law the bank pays the AJD, the notary and the registry on the mortgage deed itself, and you pay the valuation.
The tax is not due at the notary: it is self-assessed on Modelo 600 within one month of the date of the deed, in calendar days. Most websites quote 30 working days, which is the national default and roughly two weeks too generous here. Rates checked 2026-08-10. This is market information and not tax, legal or financial advice, and the reduced rates in particular turn on personal circumstances we know nothing about. Confirm anything here with a lawyer before you sign.
What happened in Valencia, what is on, and the deadlines and openings that actually affect you. In English, free, and written for people who live here.
The belt northwest of the city where the international schools are, and where a house with a garden is the normal product rather than a flat. Godella and Rocafort are the closest in and the only ones here that work without a car. L'Eliana has a real town centre on the metro. Paterna and Bétera give you the most house for the money and assume a driveway.
Each sentence below is computed from the same data as the quiz rather than written by hand for the pair.
Green, spacious and family-first, on the metro line out to the northwest.
Choose L'Eliana instead and you get: Slightly easier without a car and suburban houses rather than houses with gardens. A little less of the old town about it and a few more visitors about.
no comparable rent data
Leafy, affluent commuter towns on the metro, popular with international families.
Choose Godella instead and you get: A bit more character, suburban houses rather than houses with gardens, and you can live here without a car. Noticeably more tourists and foreign residents and slightly less space for the money.
much the same rent
Space, golf and international schools at the far end of the metro line.
Choose Bétera instead and you get: New build with lifts and terraces rather than later blocks with lifts and balconies. A few more visitors about and genuinely remote from the city.
no comparable rent data
We publish Valencia's news in English every morning. The stories that named Paterna load here, live, so this is never a snapshot of the day the page was written. If nothing appears, read today's edition instead.
Advertised asking prices in Paterna run around 15 EUR per square metre a month, so roughly 810 to 990 EUR for a 60 square metre one-bedroom and 1,350 to 1,650 EUR for a 100 square metre three-bedroom. That is the 15th highest of the 17 Valencia areas we hold reliable asking data for. A room in a shared flat costs about 400 EUR wherever you are.
Asking prices in Paterna run around 2,318 EUR per square metre, so roughly 125,170 to 152,990 EUR for a 60 square metre one-bedroom and 208,620 to 254,980 EUR for a 100 square metre three-bedroom. A house here runs 646,720 to 790,440 EUR at the 310 square metre median size actually on sale. That is the 17th most expensive of the 18 Valencia areas we hold sale data for. These are advertised prices, not what properties finally sell for.
On top of the price you pay ITP, the transfer tax on resale homes, which has been 9 per cent in the Comunitat Valenciana since 1 June 2026, plus notary, land registry, gestoría and legal fees. On a 719,000 EUR 310 m2 house, the middle of the range here, that is about 3,150 to 8,400 EUR in fees on top of roughly 65,000 EUR of tax, so around 786,000 EUR all in if you are buying outright. That is 9.4 to 10.2 per cent on top of the asking price; the cheaper the property, the higher that percentage goes, because a lawyer and a gestoría cost much the same whatever you are buying. If you are borrowing as a non-resident, lenders generally go to 60 to 70 per cent of value, so expect to find at least 30 per cent yourself as well. This is market information, not tax advice.
Yes. Paterna is effectively unlivable without a car. That single fact rules it in or out for most people before anything else on this page matters.
Yes. Paterna is one of the areas families actually pick: parks and gardens on every side, properly quiet, and in the international school belt.
No beach. Entirely inland. If the sea is the reason you are moving, the beach barrios and the coastal towns are the honest answer instead.
Mostly. Paterna has a sizeable international community, so you will find English speakers without looking hard, but everyday services still run in Spanish and Valencian.
They are the same kind of place with different answers. Choose L'Eliana instead and you get this: slightly easier without a car and suburban houses rather than houses with gardens. A little less of the old town about it and a few more visitors about.
No. This is editorial guidance from a local newsletter, not legal, financial, tax or relocation advice. Rent and sale figures are market data and move constantly, and tax rates change: the ITP rate on this page changed in June 2026. Check anything that matters with a professional before you sign.
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