Taylor Scott International News
The roller coaster nature of the Spanish property market recovery is laid bare with the latest data on prices showing that the slowdown has not yet gone, nor has the difference between official figures and those from real estate firms. The latest figures from valuations company Tinsa show that at a national level property prices are still falling although there are regions where they are rising while the latest data from the Housing Department show prices falling slightly. The Tinsa data for May, based on the company’s own valuations, shows that average national house prices were down 3.6% year on year but this global figure hides considerable regional variations. For example the biggest price falls are in provincial capitals and large cities with a decline of 4.9%, while house prices on the Mediterranean coast were down 2.3% and in the Balearics and Canaries there was a fall of 2.1%. However, year on year house prices on the coast are up 1.4% compared to May 2014 but are still down 48.8% compared to the peak of the market and according to Tinsa the national average peak to present fall is 42.1%. According to the government figures the average price for Spanish property fell a 0.11% in the first three months of this year, the smallest quarterly decline since the economic crisis began and down from a fall of 0.36% in the last quarter of 2014. This takes the average property price to €1,458 per square meter and this is down 36.3%, adjusting for inflation, since the peak of the market in 2008 when it was €2,100 per square metre. A regional breakdown of the figures shows that seven autonomous regions registered year on year price growth led by the Canaries up by 3.56%, Aragon up 1.9%, Madrid up 1.67%, the Valencian Community up 0.69%, Extremadura up 0.57%, the Balearics up 0.1% and Andalusia up 0.05%. The rest of Spain is still seeing annual price decreases. In Asturias prices have fallen by 6.53 year on year, by 3.72% in Castilla-León, by 3.15% in Navarra, by 2.29% in Galicia, and by 1.47% in the Basque Country. According to the Housing Price Index (HPI) published by the National Statistics Institute, the price of homes rose by 1.5% in the first quarter of the year, compared to the same period of 2014, which is below the 1.8% price increase recorded at the end of 2014. But the index has recorded four consecutive quarters of year on year increases following six years of declines. The index also shows that prices for new homes are rising faster than others. Second hand homes say a rise of 1.1% in the first quarter of the year while new home prices rose by 4%. Taylor Scott International
Taylor Scott International, Taylor Scott
