Tag: by region

Idealista: Second-Hand House Prices Rose by 2.4% in 2017

27 December 2017 – El País

Despite the Catalan crisis, this year, Barcelona has managed to dislodge San Sebastián from the top of the ranking as the most expensive capital city in Spain.

During 2017, buying a second-hand home has become 2.4% more expensive. Owners have paid an average price of €1,586/m2 in 2017, compared to €1,553/m2 in 2016, according to the latest price index from the real estate portal Idealista.

Nevertheless, not all of the markets have behaved in the same way; some have grown at double-digit rates, whilst others have expanded at more moderate rates, and others have seen price continue to decrease, still not reaching rock bottom.

Thirty of the provincial capital cities have seen price rises, although the most marked increase was recorded in Palma de Mallorca, with a rise of 29.1%, taking the average second-hand house price there to €2,667/m2. It was followed by the city of Málaga, where prices have risen by 16.7% to €1,934/m2. By contrast, Soria is the capital where prices have fallen by the most (-8.3%), followed by Ávila (-6.9%) and Almería (-5.1%).

Despite the Catalan crisis, which “will affect the final result for the year”, according to Fernando Encinar, Head of Research at Idealista, this year, Barcelona has managed to dislodge San Sebastián from the top of the ranking as the most expensive Spanish capital, at €4,284/m2, compared to €4,052/m2 in the Guipuzcoan capital. Those two cities are followed by Madrid (€3,285/m2) and Bilbao (€2,871/m2).

By autonomous region, the largest increase was recorded in the Balearic Islands, where owners are now asking 25.3% more for their homes than they were a year ago. It is followed by increases in Cataluña (9.5%), the Canary Islands (8.4%), the Community of Madrid (7.1%), Aragón (2.3%), the Community of Valencia (1.9%), Andalucía (0.8%) and País Vasco (+0.5%). At the other end of the spectrum, the largest decreases were recorded in Navarra (-4.8%), Asturias (-3.2%) and Castilla La Mancha (-2.4%).

The Community of Madrid is the most expensive autonomous region, at €2,544/m2, followed by País Vasco (€2,519/m2), the Balearic Islands (€2,472/m2) and Cataluña (€2,082/m2), whilst the regions with the most affordable prices are Castilla-La Mancha (€897/m2), Extremadura (€932/m2) and Murcia (€1,019/m2). The provinces with the most expensive homes are Guipúzcoa and Vizcaya, at €2,760/m2 and €2,591/m2, respectively. They are followed by Madrid (€2,544) and Barcelona (€2,544/m2). Toledo is the most affordable province (€770/m2), followed by Avila (€801/m2) and Ciudad Real (€840/m2).

Original story: El País (by S. L. L.)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Ministry of Development: 121,561 Homes Were Sold in Q3

12 December 2017 – El País

House sales are continuing to record their best figures for a decade. The number of transactions rose by 16.7% in the third quarter to reach 121,561 sales. It represented the best third quarter of a year since 2008, when 122,949 operations were closed, according to data from the Ministry of Development. Buyers continued to focus on second-hand properties, with their more affordable prices. In this way, second-hand homes accounted for 110,126 transactions, representing 90.6% of the total. Meanwhile, 11,435 operations involved new build homes, which accounted for 9.4% of the total.

Since the real estate market began its recovery in 2014, only good results have been recorded. Over the last 12 months, between October 2016 and September 2017, 516,643 homes have been sold in Spain, which represents a 15.8% increase compared to the same period a year earlier. Nevertheless, the total volume of homes that have changed hands is still well below the levels reached during the years of the real estate boom. In 2006 alone, more than 916,000 units were sold.

Every single autonomous region recorded increases in the number of house sales during the third quarter of the year. The greatest rises were seen in La Rioja (32.9%), Cantabria (31.9%), Ceuta and Melilla (26.3%), Murcia (25.6%) and Andalucía (23.6%). By contrast, the smallest increases were recorded in Extremadura (5.7%), País Vasco (6.3%), Community of Madrid (7.9%) and Navarra (9.9%). By municipality, the highest number of sales were recorded in Madrid (8,560), Barcelona (4,096), Valencia (2,404), Zaragoza (1,944), Sevilla (1,779), Málaga (1,632), Alicante (1,399) and Palma de Mallorca (1,315).

Many of the towns benefitted from foreign demand, which has now recorded 25 consecutive quarters of YoY increases. Purchases made by foreign residents amounted to 20,257, which represents an increase of 17.6% compared to the third quarter of 2016. If we add the acquisitions made by foreign non-residents, the figure rises to 24,009, i.e. 17.4% of the total. By province, the highest number of purchases by foreign residents were recorded in Alicante (4,619), Málaga (2,429), Barcelona (1,937), Madrid (1,564), the Balearic Islands (1,377), Valencia (1,183) and Santa Cruz de Tenerife (1,175).

Original story: El País (by S. L. L.)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Fotocasa: Rental Prices Record Highest QoQ Rise For 9 Years

22 April 2016 – El Economista

Average residential rental prices in Spain rose by 3.1% during the first quarter of the year, which took the price as at March 2016 to €7.24/m2/month, according to the latest data from fotocasa’s Real Estate Index.

The real estate portal explained that this quarterly increase in residential rental prices represents a continuation of the predominant trend seen in 2015, the year in which rental prices started to rise again after eight years of widespread decreases.

“The rental market has been experiencing strong growth in recent years and that is manifesting itself in the form of rental prices. According to recent studies by fotocasa.es, 60% of the landlords that rented out a home last year did not have to reduce the asking price in order to let the property and 90% found a tenant within six months”, explained the Head of Research at fotocasa, Beatriz Toribio.

In fact, the increase recorded during Q1 2016 is the highest in the history of fotocasa’s Real Estate Index, which began in Q1 2007, when rental prices rose by 4.9%. Since then, rental prices have decreased every quarter, with just a few exceptions, in 2011 and 2014. Quarterly rental prices started their recovery in 2015, with increases of 2.8% and 1.5% in the first and second quarter, respectively.

Increases in 11 autonomous regions

During the first quarter of the year, rental prices increased in 11 autonomous regions on a quarterly basis and in all regions on an annual basis. In fact, the YoY variation in Q1 2016 was 4%, the second highest increase in the history of fotocasa’s Real Estate Index, which dates back to 2006. (…).

Since reaching the maximum price in May 2007 (€10.12/m2/month), rental prices have recorded a cumulated decrease of 28.5%. In this sense, five autonomous regions recorded decreases of more than 30% since their peaks five years ago. Thus, Aragón is the autonomous region that has seen the sharpest decreases in rental prices (-40%), followed by Castilla-La Mancha (-35.6%), Cantabria (-35.3%) and Valencia (-31.9%).

Until March, rental prices increased in 11 autonomous regions, with rises ranging from 6% in the Balearic Islands to 0.8% in Andalucía. At the other extreme, rental prices decreased in six autonomous regions during Q1. The reductions ranged from 3% in La Rioja to 0.1% in the Canary Islands.

In terms of rental price rankings, for the first time in recent years, Cataluña displaced País Vasco as the most expensive autonomous region in which to rent a home. Specifically, the price in Cataluña amounted to €10.19/m2/month in March, followed by País Vasco (€10.18/m2/month) and Madrid (€10.08/m2/month). At the other end of the scale, Extremadura (€4.46/m2/month) and Castilla-La Mancha (€4.66/m2/month) were the two regions where residential rental prices are most affordable.

In terms of the evolution of prices by province, 32 provinces recorded rental price increases with respect to December, with the price rises ranging from 9.2% in Huelva to 0.1% in Las Palmas. By contrast, rental prices fell in 17 provinces, with decreases ranging from -0.2% in Córdona to -3.4% in Teruel. Meanwhile, prices remained stable in Lleida. (…).

Original story: El Economista

Translation: Carmel Drake

INE: House Sales Accelerate Overall And Fall In 4 Regions Only

9 March 2015 – Cinco Días

The recovery in house sales is strengthening slowly, month after month, according to the statistics prepared by the National Institute for Statistics (INE) – refer to article published on Friday for high level data. (….).

(….). The sale of second-hand homes accounted for 73.1% of all sales recorded in January, whilst the sale of new homes accounted for 26.9% of transactions, heavily influenced by the scarce construction of developments that still afflicts the market. During the first month of the year, just 9,003 new homes were sold, 37.1% fewer than 12 months earlier.

Unsubsidised housing

As INE highlights in its notes, the data released on Friday relates to sales recorded in property registries for transactions closed in the months leading up to the month of January. In any case, even through there is a certain timelag, the statistics prepared by the notaries and the Ministry of Development (using the figures of the former), which lack this mismatch in terms of dates, show exactly the same trend towards a clear increase in the volume of sales. The recovery of employment and the re-opening of the funding tap, together with significantly lower prices, explain the increased volume of transactions.

By type of home, the majority of the homes sold during the first month of the year, specifically 88.8%, were unsubsidised. The sale of this type of home increased by 10.4% in year-on-year terms, to amount to 29,667 transactions. By contrast, 3,749 subsidised (VPO) homes were sold during the month, an increase of 3.3% with respect to January 2014. Another way of assessing whether this recovery is sustainable or not is to look at how this trend is evolving across the country. Although at first, only a minority of autonomous regions recorded positive annual rates in terms of house sales (those with a higher income per capita and with a higher percentage of tourist homes), now the situation has turned around (with only a minority of autonomous regions recording negative annual rates). In absolute terms, Andalucía continued to lead the ranking in terms of house sales in January, with 6,114 transactions, followed by Madrid (5,282), Cataluña (5,219) and Valencia (4,630).

Nevertheless, in relative terms, the regions that saw the highest increases in house sales were the Canary Islands (+56.7%), La Rioja (+48.3%) and Extremadura (+30%). Only four regions recorded annual decreases: Cantabria (-17.3%), Navarra (-17.2%), Galicia (-7.3%) and Castilla-La Mancha (-3.9%)

Original story: Cinco Días (by Raquel Díaz Guijarro)

Translation: Carmel Drake