Tag Archives: investment
Property sales and prices up in Spain in first half of 2016
Residential property sales in Spain increased by almost 20% in the first half of this year suggesting that the real estate market recovery is well underway. The latest figures from the General Council of Notaires shows that transactions were up by 19.6% in the first six months of 2016 to a total of 225,551 sales, and prices increased by 6.1% year on year. The data reveals that new home sales are not boosting the recovery and indeed falling. Sales of non-new homes increased by 19.29% year on year, accounting for 68.1% of all the homes sold but new homes sales fell 13.6%. This upward trend continued in June, when home sales grew by 7.1%, year on year, again driven by the transactions on second hand homes, which increased by 11.5% reaching a total of 29,052 units, while transactions on new housing registered a decline of 33.4%, with a total of just 2,751 sales. The price of an average home increased by 6.1% to €1,418 per square metre. But new homes cost more and this could explain why sales are falling. The average price of a new build was €1,886, some 12.7% more than second hand homes. The data also shows that in June some 44.7% of home sales were financed through a mortgage with the average capital loaned €128,480, a slight increase, of 0.4%, over last year. The cost of renting a home in Spain is also increasing, up by 2.4% in the second quarter of 2016 taking the average to €7.41 per square meter per month, according to figures from property portal Fotocasa. It means that after eight years of falling, residential rents have now been increasing since 2015. Beatriz Toribo, Fotocasa head of research, a growth in demand is boosting rental values which are now up by 4.8% year on year. A breakdown of the figures show that rents increased in 15 regions in the second quarter of the year compared to the previous quarter and in 16 regions year on year. The highest annual increase to data was recorded in May this year when rental prices increased by 5%. But the recovery still has some way to go as average rents are now 26.8% lower than they were at the peak of the market in May 2007 when they were €10.12 per square meter per month on average. But in three regions prices are down even more. Monthly rents are some 39.6% lower than peak in Aragon, 35.2% lower in Castilla La man cha and 33.7% down in Cantabria. The most expensive rents are in Madrid at €10.36 per square meter per month, followed by Catalonia at €10.24 and then the Basque Country at €10.16. The most affordable rental prices are in Extremadura at €4.56 and Castilla La Mancha at €4.69. Continue reading
New home lending rises in Australia as interest rates are cut
New home lending in Australia saw a healthy rise during June, up 2.3% and up 6.3% compared to the same month in 2015, the latest data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows. The Reserve Bank of Australia cut its interest rate at the beginning of May so June’s housing finance results are the first month’s data to fully capture the effect of cheaper mortgage costs. According to Shane Garrett, Housing Industry Association (HIA) senior economist, prospective home buyers seem to have taken advantage of the lower interest rate environment. ‘June was also dominated by the close federal election campaign which was the source of some uncertainty across the economy. This data indicates that the benefits of lower interest rates trumped any reluctance by buyers to enter the market during the tight election race. It’s therefore likely that the interest rate cut will help bolster activity on the new home building side,’ he explained. A breakdown of the figures shows that the strongest growth in new home lending over the year to June 2016 was in Victoria with an uptick of 19.1%, followed by New South Wales with growth of 10.8% while there was a more measured increase in Queensland of 4.3%. Over the same period, there were substantial reductions in other states, most notably a fall of 20.7% in Western Australian, a fall of 17.7% in the Northern Territory and a more modest fall of 3.5% in Tasmania. New home lending to owner occupiers in South Australia and the ACT during June 2016 was comparable with the level a year ago. Meanwhile, the HIA’s New Home Sales Report, a survey of Australia’s largest volume builders, shows that total new home sales ended 2015/2016 on a higher note. The overall trend is still one of modest decline for new home sales but a bounce of 8.2% in June 2016 highlights the resilience of the national new home building sector, according to HIA chief economist, Harley Dale. ‘The overall profile of HIA new home sales is signalling an orderly correction to national new home construction in the short term, as are other leading housing indicators. Below the national surface, the large geographical divergences between state housing markets have been a prominent feature of the current cycle and that will continue,’ he explained. Comparing the second quarter of 2016 with the same period last year shows that detached house sales were down sharply in South Australia by 21.4%, in Western Australia by 27.5% and in down by 7.3% in New South Wales but up by 17% in Victoria and by 7.1% in Queensland. Overall the sale of detached houses bounced back by 7.2% month on month in June 2016 while multi-unit’ sales continued their recent recovery, up by 11.5% after a lift of 4.9% in May. In the month of June 2016 detached house sales increased in all five mainland states with the largest increase in Queensland at 14.9% and up by 9.1% in Western… Continue reading
Average UK house prices up 8.7% year on year in June, official data shows
Average house prices in the UK increased by 8.7% in the year to June 2016, up from 8.5% in the year to May 2016, according to the latest national house price index compiled by the Office of National Statistics (ONS). This took the average UK price to £214,000 in June 2016, some £17,000 higher than in June 2015 and £2,100 higher than the previous month but it should be noted that the data was recorded before any Brexit effect would be discernible. The HPI report says that strong house price growth has been seen since the end of 2013 but there is regional variation and in June the main contribution to the increase in UK house prices came from England. On a regional basis house prices increased by 9.3% in England over the year to June 2016, with the average price in England £229,000. Wales saw house prices increase by 4.9% to £145,000 while in Scotland, the average price increased by 4.6% to £143,000. The average price in Northern Ireland is was £123,000. London continues to be the region with the highest average house price at £472,000, followed by the South East and the East of England, which stand at £309,000 and £270,000 respectively. The lowest average price continues to be in the North East at £124,000. However, the East of England has replaced London as the region which showed the highest annual growth, with prices increasing by 14.3% in the year to June 2016. Growth in London remains high at 12.6%, followed by the South East with a 12.3% annual growth. The lowest annual growth was in the North East, where prices increased by 1.5% over the year. Richard Snook, senior economist, PwC, pointed out that the figures only capture one week of market activity after the vote to leave the EU on 23 June, so it is too early to draw any firm conclusions from this set of data. ‘Nevertheless, we expect that the vote to leave the EU will have a significant impact on the housing market. In our main scenario, average UK house property growth will decelerate to around 3% this year and around 1% in 2017,’ he said. ‘Cumulatively, our estimates suggest average UK house prices in 2018 could be 8% lower than if the UK had voted to stay in the EU,’ he added. According to John Goodall, chief executive officer of peer to peer platform Landbay, high demand drove the uplift in prices, with mortgage lending volumes jumping 16% in June alone. He pointed out that all eyes will be on next month’s figures, and early indications suggest house prices growth cooled slightly in July, but adding that any Brexit effect won’t be seen immediately. Increased house price growth in June could also have been due to the new stamp duty rate for buy to let purchasers, according to Andrew McPhillips, chief economist at Yorkshire Building Society. ‘This caused landlords to flood the market to beat the new rate,… Continue reading
