Portugal 
Italy 
Greece 
The Price of New Housing Rose 12.7%
15 August 2017
New construction is starting to reappear. The price of new free-market housing recently increased by 12.7% in the twelve months to June, according to data released yesterday by the General Council of Notaries. While the average price per square meter was 1,816 euros in June 2016, in the same month this year the price was up to €2,047. The average cost per square meter of second-use homes stood at 1,478 euros, 0.8% more year-on-year. This caused the increase in the combined index of free-market residential properties to be limited to 1.9%.
In terms of average costs, the square meter of homes purchased in June cost 1,358 euros, according to the report, reflecting an increase of 1.4% year-on-year. This increase in the cost per square meter of housing is due exclusively to the increase in the price per square meter of flats, as the square meter of single-family homes fell by 0.1% year-on-year.
The purchase and sale of housing stood at 51,477 transactions in June, representing a year-on-year increase of 17.4% (16.8% in the seasonally adjusted series).
The sale of flats showed a year-on-year increase of 18.1% (17.1% in the seasonally adjusted series), due both to the expansion of sales of second-use flats (19%) and an increase in the sale of new flats (10.8% year-on-year). The sale of single-family homes showed a 14.8% year-on-year increase.
Finally, in June, there were 12,176 transactions of other types of real estate, an increase of 21.4% year-on-year, of which 41.2% corresponded to land or plots of land. The average price per square meter of these transactions stood at 207 euros (13.6% year-on-year).
Mortgage loans for the purchase of real estate increased by 12.2% year-on-year to June (25,016 mortgages). The General Council of Notaries explained that the total increase in mortgages can be divided into an increase in loans granted for the purchase of a home (12.9% year-on-year) and the increase in mortgages for the acquisition of other types of real estate (3.4% year-on-year).
The size of the average mortgage granted for the acquisition of real estate, in June, reached 135,234 euros, a decrease of 6.9% compared to the same period of 2016.
Creation of new companies
On the other hand, there were 8,720 new companies incorporated in June, a year-on-year decrease of 18% (-18.8% in the seasonally adjusted series).
The average share capital of companies incorporated in June stood at 18,837 euros, which represents a year-on-year increase of 15.6%, according to statistics from the General Council of Notaries.
Original Story: Expansión Pro-Orbyt – J. M. Lamet
Translation: Richard Turner