Taylor Scott International News
While most experts agree that the Spanish residential property market is well into recovery, there is unlikely to be much of an increase in prices. Indeed the latest house price index from property portal Fotocasa suggests that prices are on an up and down trajectory but with no big surprise. Asking prices fell 0.8% in 2015, down from an average of €1,632 per square meter in 2014 to €1,619 per square meter as of December 2015, according to the Fotocasa index. However, Marc Stucklin, of Spanish Property Insight pointed out that last year’s house price decline was the smallest since the crisis began and this provides more evidence that the Spanish house price crash has come to an end. For example, a year ago prices were still falling by 5.7%, and by 10.% in 2012 and property prices while not rising overall, are increasing in certain locations. Beatriz Toribio, head of research as Fotocasa, an increase in mortgage lending is helping to boost the market at a time when prices are still relatively cheap compared to before the meltdown after the global economic crisis of 2007. The data shows prices rose the most last year in the Balearics with growth of 3.3%, followed by La Rioja up 2.4%, Madrid up 1.4% and Andalusia and Galicia both up 0.7%. ‘We are witnessing a two speed market. Whilst there are parts of Catalonia, Madrid, and the Balearics, where prices have bottomed out, in places like Castile-La Mancha and Extremadura, there is still plenty of room to fall,’ explained Toribio. There are also variations within cities. ‘In Madrid and Barcelona prices are consolidating their recovery, but on the outskirts of those cities the evolution is more unequal,’ added Toribio. Since the peak of the market in 2007 prices have fallen 45.2% overall. The biggest decline has been in La Rioja where prices are down 55.1% from peak, Castile-La Mancha down 52.6%, Navarre down 52.5%, Aragon down 52%, Murcia down 49.9%, and Valencia down 48.3%. Prices have fallen the least in Galicia with a decline of 31.5%, down 33.1% in the Balearics, down 36.3% in Castile and Leon and down 37.3% in the Basque Country, according to the Fotocasa data. ‘Prices look to be more or less stable, but still slightly negative at the end of 2015, with little sign of upward pressure on the horizon,’ said Stucklin, who added that big regional variations exist. Taylor Scott International
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