BBVA Revises Down Its Forecasts For Housing Investment

17 May 2016 – Expansión

BBVA Research, the research service arm of the financial institution, has revised down its growth forecasts for housing investment in Spain to 2.8% in 2016 and 4.4% in 2017, from its previous estimate of 4.2% and 8.2%, respectively, due to political uncertainty, according to reports by Servimedia.

According to the bank’s latest ‘Situation in Spain’ report, “the recovery of the real estate sector is continuing, but at a slower rate than expected”. In addition, the report highlights that the fundamentals of residential demand (the recovery of the labour market and low interest rates) remain “solid”, which means that we can expect to see increases in sales over the coming months.

According to the study, construction activity, which has showed “significant” momentum in the last year, is going to continue to respond to the increase in sales. With this, added BBVA “we expect that residential investment will continue to grow over the next few years”.

Nevertheless, the bank warns that the “persistence of uncertainty surrounding economic policy, and the negative surprises recorded throughout 2015, have driven down its forecast for growth in residential investment over the next few quarters”. In terms of investment in construction, BBVA Research forecasts that it will grow by 3.1% in 2016 and by 4.1% in 2017, down from its previous estimates of 3.8% and 5.9%, respectively. (…).

Original story: Expansión

Translation: Carmel Drake