Tinsa: House Prices Fall In May 2015 By 3.6% YoY

5 June 2015 – Expansión

According to Tinsa’s IMIE General and Large Markets Index, the average price of new and used housing decreased by 3.6% during the year to May 2015.

Specifically, the index stood at 1,322 points. Tinsa has explained that “the intense downwards variation experienced by the index from June 2014 onwards explains the significant inter-annual differences, even through average prices have remained relatively stable since November”.

Moreover, according to this index, the average house prices in Spain have accumulated a decrease of 42.7% since the peaks of 2007.

Prices by regions

The report also highlights that the average house price in Spain was 1.6% cheaper in May than at the end of 2014; a similar trend has been on the islands (the “Balearic and Canary Islands”), where the cumulative fall with respect to December 2014 amounts to 1.5%.

Towns on the “Mediterranean Coast” are the only ones that closed the first five months of the year with positive growth (+1.4%), although there, average prices in May 2015 were still 2.3% below those recorded in May 2014.

The “Capitals and large cities” recorded the worst performance of all of the areas analysed in May, with a 4.9% YoY decrease. In terms of the intensity of the decrease with respect to the same period last year, they are followed by the “Metropolitan Areas”, with a 3.8% drop and smaller towns, grouped together within the category “Other municipalities”, where average prices were 2.7% lower than in May 2014.

It is important to remember that Tinsa’s IMIE index is compiled using appraisal (values) for finished homes (new and used) prepared by the company. This means that it reflects prices assigned by the appraiser, on which market prices are based, versus other indices, such as the one prepared by the Registrars, which is based on the prices the feature in the deeds signed before Notaries.

Original story: Expansión

Translation: Carmel Drake

CaixaBank Considers Selling 1,000 Homes To Overseas Funds

11 March 2015 – Expansión

‘Project Eurostars’ / The Catalan group is sounding out investors to assess their interest in the portfolio, which mainly comprises homes on Spanish coast.

The Spanish bank wants to widen the ‘drain’ through which it is offloading property from its balance sheet. As well as leveraging on the intense activity in their sales networks, financial institutions are looking to take advantage of the interest shown by overseas funds by packaging up batches of homes. One of the first groups to join this trend is CaixaBank, which has been sounding out the market in recent weeks regarding the sale of a portfolio of 1,000 homes known as Project Eurostars; Expansión has had access to the corresponding sales prospectus.

The group chaired by Isidro Fainé (pictured above) has handed over the management of this transaction, whose information was first distributed to funds at the end of February, to the real estate consultant JLL. According to the timeline proposed initially, investors should have submitted their non-binding offers yesterday and the process should close by the end of the month.

The Eurostars portfolio comprises 1,091 real estate assets, with an estimated combined value of €103 million. The majority of the portfolio is made up of 807 homes, primarily located on the Mediterranean coast, with an average value of €122,000. The portfolio also includes 250 parking spaces, 26 store-rooms and 5 shops.

The homes are concentrated in Barcelona, Tarragona, Valencia, Alicante, Granada, Cádiz, Navarra and Tenerife.

In the information that has been distributed, the advisor JLL highlights two key features that it hopes will appeal to foreign investors: the improvement in the real estate market, with an 18% increase in (the volume of) house sales between 2013 and 2014; together with “the positive economic outlook and increasing volume of investment”, with investors allocating €23,000 million to Spanish property in 2014.

The homes to be sold are currently held on the balance sheet of the Building Centre, a subsidiary of CaixaBank, after being foreclosed.

The group sold 13,794 properties in 2014, i.e. 27% more than in 2013 and the volume of foreclosed assets increased by 12%, to reach almost €15,000 million in gross terms.

Original story: Expansión (by Jorge Zuloaga)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Bankia Offers More Than 3,500 Homes With Discounts Of Up To 50%

12 February 2015 – El Economista

Bankia has put more than 3,500 homes up for sale across Spain with discounts “in many cases” of up to 50%, which means that 80% of the homes to be offered by the entity until the end of March have an average price of less than €80,000.

The homes, all of which are second hand, are located in urban and coastal areas, ranging from large capital cities, to metropolitan areas and small towns, said Bankia in a statement.

Valencia is the autonomous region with the largest supply of housing, with more than 1,300 properties for sale, followed by Cataluña, with 800; more than 300 properties will be available in Castilla-La Mancha; 200 in the Canary Islands; and more than a hundred in other autonomous regions such as Madrid, Andalucía and Murcia.

Original story: El Economista

Translation: Carmel Drake