Ministry Of Development: Housing Stock Falls By 5% To 535,734

31 July 2015 – El Economista

According to data published by the Ministry of Development, the stock of unsold homes in Spain fell by 5% in 2014, to bring the total down to 535,734 properties, i.e. 2.10% of the total housing stock.

The statistics are compiled on the basis of the termination certificates issued by the College of Technical Architects…as a reference for the number of finished homes, and using the Ministry of Development’s own real estate statistics about house sales.

This represents the second largest decrease since 2010, when the downwards phase first started. (…).

It means that the stock of empty homes has reduced by 17.5% since its maximum level in 2009 (649,780 properties). Overall, the housing stock is still 29.5% higher than it was in 2007, when there were 413,642 empty homes.

No stock left in Cantabria or Extremadura

The housing stock decreased in all regions in 2014, with the exception of Ceuta and Melilla. In fact, in the cases of Extremadura and Cantabria, the stock of homes was completely absorbed last year.

However, in this case, the Ministry of Development explains that the ‘stock’ represents the surplus above the levels recorded on 1 January 2004, and therefore zero surpluses do not necessarily mean that there are no unsold new homes left, but rather that the number of unsold new homes has not increased since that date.

Navarra led the decreases, with a reduction of 86.5%, followed by Galicia (-8.45%), Aragón (-6.76%), Andalucía (-6.72%), the Balearic Islands (-5.97%), Murcia (-5.48%), the Canary Islands (-5.37%) and Asturias (-5.19%).

Other regions recorded decreases below the national average, including: Madrid (-4.78%), Castilla-La Mancha (-4.66%), Castilla y León (-4.24%), Comunidad Valenciana (-3.14%), Cataluña (-2.99%), La Rioja (-1.76%) and País Vasco (-0.75%). Meanwhile, the stock in Ceuta and Melilla increased by 18.1%.

Following these changes, three regions now account for 49.6% of the stock: Comunidad Valenciana (98,087 homes), Andalucía (85,081 homes) and Cataluña (82,753 homes). Meanwhile, the regions and cities with the lowest stock percentages are Ceuta and Melilla (744 homes), Navarra (184 homes) and Cantabria and Extremadura, where there is no stock left. (…).

Original story: El Economista

Translation: Carmel Drake