63
63

Tinsa: House Prices Rose By 5%+ In Cataluña In 2015

19 January 2016 – Expansión

With an increase of more than 5%, Cataluna was the autonomous region where house prices rose the most in 2015, which saw the first nationwide increase since 2008. Specifically, according to data published by the appraisal company Tinsa, new and second-hand house prices rose by 1% in Spain last year; with the Community of Madrid and the Balearic Islands also helping to drive that increase, with rises of 3.3% and 2.7%, respectively.

The Catalan provinces reported the greatest increases. Most notably, prices rose in Gerona by more than 10%. In addition, prices in Barcelona and Lérida increased by 5%, whilst in Tarragona, the only province in the region where prices did not rise, they dropped by -1.7%. Significant increases were also recorded in other provinces, besides those mentioned above in Madrid and the Balearic Islands – they included Albacete (4.5%), Ávila (2.4%), Orense (2.2%) and Castellón (2.1%). Similarly, prices in Cuenca, Huelva, Toledo, Cádiz, Málaga, Cantabria, Salamanca, Alicante, Granada, Las Palmas and Santa Cruz de Tenerife rose in line with the national average, all recording increases of around 1%

At the other end of the spectrum, and in contrast to the behaviour seen in the other autonomous regions, house prices in Navarra dropped significantly, by -8.5% YoY. Prices also fell sharply in Murcia, by -4.5%, whilst in Aragón and Extremadura, prices fell by -3.6% and -3.4%, respectively. Meanwhile, prices in País Vasco dropped by -2% and in Asturias, the Community of Valencia and Galicia, prices fell by more than -1%.

In this context, house prices fell by the most in the province of Teruel: specifically, by -8.7%. Moreover, the decrease in Córdoba amounted to -7.7%, whilst in Palencia prices dropped by -7.1%, in Álava by -6.5% and in Zamora by -5.9%. Notable price decreases were also recorded in Ciudad Real, Almería, Burgos, Cáceres and León, where they dropped by more than 4%.

Tinsa’s IMIE index for the fourth quarter of 2015 also includes the behaviour of prices in cities: the ranking was headed by Barcelona, where prices rose by 8.7%. The second city was Badajoz, with an increase of 5.7%, and that was followed by Ávila, where the increase reached 4.3%. Prices in the capital of Spain rose by 3.8% and price rises of more than 3% were also recorded in Cuenca and Ciudad Real. In Palma de Mallorca, prices rose by 2%, in Segovia they increased by 2% and prices in Burgos, Málaga and Cádiz all rose by more than 1%.

The provincial capitals where prices decreased the most were Pamplona and Palencia, with a decrease of more than -10% in both cases. In Zamora, prices fell by -9.2%, whilst in León, they dropped by more than -8%. Huesca, Tarragona and Castellón all recorded price decreases of -7%, and prices in Vitoria fell by almost the same amount. In Murcia and Almería, prices dropped by more than -6% and in Zaragoza, Vigo and Lérida, prices decreased by between -4% and -3.2%.

Original story: Expansión (by Daniel Viaña)

Translation: Carmel Drake