House Prices Decrease By The Most In Castellón In 2016

13 December 2016 – El Mundo

House prices are still falling in the province of Castellón, despite the fact that they are rising in Spain as a whole (by 4% over the last 12 months) and have now recorded 10 consecutive quarters of increases.

Castellón closed the third quarter of the year as the province where house prices decreased by the most in the last year, with a YoY decline of 4%. Only in La Rioja have house prices fallen by more than the average for unsubsidised homes, with a decrease of 5%, according to the latest statistics from the Ministry of Development.

At the moment, the average unsubsidised home in the province of Castellón costs €1,027/m2, which represents a decrease of 3.3% compared with the previous quarter and of 4% compared to a year ago.

Castellón is the cheapest place to buy an unsubsidised home at the moment, based on average prices. And the province not only offers the lowest prices, it is also where prices are continuing to decrease despite the increase that they are experiencing across the rest of Spain and also in the rest of the Community of Valencia.

The highest increase in house prices was recorded in the province of Valencia, although Alicante registered the highest prices. In this sense, it is worth noting that, according to the statistics from the Ministry of Development, the average cost of an unsubsidised home amounted to €1,117.1/m2 at the end of Q3 2016. This figure represents an increase of 1.9% with respect to the second quarter of the year and a rise of 4% over the last 12 months. Meanwhile, the average price of unsubsidised homes in Alicante amounted to €1,240.6/m2, having risen by 1.3% during the quarter and by 1.4% in the last year, according to the same sources at the Ministry of Development.

And as house prices continue to decrease in the province of Castellón, so too do the number of home purchases. In this sense, it is worth remembering that Castellón is the province where the number of new home sales has fallen by the most in the last year. Nevertheless, and despite the 46.50% decrease in new house sales across Castellón in the last year, the volume of total transactions is positive due to the vortex experienced in terms of demand for second-hand properties.

In the province of Castellón, 6,043 homes have been sold in the last year, which represents an increase of 6.92% YoY. Despite this rise, with a total of 696 transactions involving new homes in the last year, the province has registered a decrease of 46.50% in terms of the number of operations involving new homes, the highest in all of Spain. Meanwhile, second-hand homes account for the majority of the transactions registered in the province of Castellón, with a total of 5,347 sales, which represents 88.48% of the total, according to the latest data.

Original story: El Mundo (by Berta Ribés)

Translation: Carmel Drake