Pisos.com: House Sales will Amount to 520,000 in 2018

29 November 2018 – Expansión

The housing market is going to break a record in terms of sales in 2018, by exceeding the 500,000 threshold for the first time since 2008. The strength in demand and the pull of the large capitals is going to translate into 520,000 house sales this year, up by 13% compared to 2017, according to forecasts from the portal Pisos.com.

On the other hand, the dynamism of the market and the shortage of available supply in the areas where demand is greatest will continue to cause prices to increase. They could close this year with a rise of 6%, with a price per square metre of €1,700/m2, and in 2019, flats will cost between €1,750/m2 and €1,800/m2 on average.

In terms of forecast house sales in 2019, the Head of Research at Pisos.com, Ferran Font, explained that “these figures will be maintained, given that the upwards trajectory is close to reaching its reasonable ceiling”. “Over the next few years, we expect the sector to close between 500,000 and 600,000 sales per year. If that figure were to increase to 800,000, it would be a bad sign for the sector”, added Font.

The arrival of investors into the real estate market explains part of the upwards performance of the sector. 25% of house sales were made without the need for financing, “which shows that property is serving as a good refuge for investment during the period of low interest rates”.

Andalucía, Cataluña and Madrid are the autonomous regions where most house sales are taking place. Nevertheless, the entry of the Community of Valencia into the leading regions is worth noting. According to Font, it is a growing market, where there is a lot of activity. As a result, the Community of Valencia is where there are the most sales for every 1,000 inhabitants. Meanwhile, Madrid will close the year with 78,000 house sales, up by 13% YoY to account for 15% of the national total.

In Barcelona, by contrast, “there is a change in the trend”, warns Font. The increase in house prices that the Catalan capital experienced at such high rates during 2016 and 2017 has reached its peak in 2018.

As a result, demand is moving to other towns. “Initially, it was moving towards the outskirts, but now it is moving towards adjoining municipalities” noted Font.

The maximums reached in the Catalan capital and the reorientation of demand are having an effect on the number of sales registered in Barcelona. At the beginning of 2017, Barcelona was growing at double-digit rates. But by the end of last year, sales had started to moderate, and during the first quarter of 2018, they started to register YoY decreases of 17% (…).

Original story: Expansión (by I. Benedito)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Tinsa: House Prices Rose by 5.4% in April

7 May 2018 – Eje Prime

House prices are continuing to rise unabated. Finished home prices (new and second-hand) rose by 5.4% in April compared with the same month last year, driven by rises in the capitals and large cities, which saw price increases of 8.7% with respect to April 2017, according to Tinsa’s index.

On average, house prices have now risen by 10.3% since the minimum level reached at the beginning of 2015, although they are still 36.7% below the peak of the boom recorded in 2007. Prices along the Mediterranean Coast were the most severely hit during the crisis, given that they have recorded a cumulative decrease of 45.8% since their maximum level.

That region is followed by the cumulative decreases in prices in metropolitan areas (42.8%) and, despite having seen an 18.6% increase in their value since May 2015, prices in large capitals are still 36.6% below their 2007 levels.

The capitals and large cities are still continuing to perform the driving role in terms of the reactivation of the market, together with the metropolitan areas and the Balearic and Canary Islands, where prices have risen by 5.7% and 5.6%, respectively.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake

BBVA Research: Madrid & Balearics Led Spain’s House Price Rises in 2017

6 March 2018 – Expansión

House sales data for 2017 and the ongoing increases in house prices augur a year of consolidation for the real estate market in 2018, according to BBVA Research, which published its Real Estate Observatory report yesterday.

Nevertheless, this trend is happening with geographical variations. Madrid and the Balearic Islands are leading the price rises, with increases of 6.9% and 6.5%, respectively, to €2,355/m2 in the case of Madrid and €2,205/m2 in the case of the Balearic market. Those increases amounted to more than double the national average, of 3.1%, with the average price per square metre rising to €1,559/m2.

In 2017, Spain surpassed the symbolic barrier of 500,000 homes sold. Specifically, the year ended with 532,726 operations, according to data from the National Council of Notaries. That increase, of 15.6%, is even greater than the growth recorded in 2016 (14%) and is supported by: the confidence of households in the Spanish economy; the increase in rents thanks to the growth in employment; and the improvement in financing conditions.

The improvement in financing conditions is reflected in data for January when new loans for the acquisition of homes soared by 19.4%. “Thus, the market is expected to continue to perform positively over the next few months”, said the Research Department at BBVA.

But the market is still evolving at different speeds, depending on the autonomous region. In fact, only four regions have prices per square metre that exceed the national average. Besides Madrid and the Balearic Islands,  they are País Vasco, which has the most expensive average house price per square metre in Spain, exceeding even Madrid (€2,387/m2, up by 1.3%) and Cataluña (€1,892/m2), which occupies fourth place, after recording the third highest rise.

The increase in Cataluña was higher than the average, but “it was less intense than in the third quarter of 2017”, said BBVA Research. That circumstance coincides with the secessionist crisis, which has also led to a paralysis in terms of investment and a decrease in the number of tourist visits.

On the other hand, houses got cheaper during the last quarter of 2017 in La Rioja (-1.8%), Castilla y León (-1%), Castilla-La Mancha (-0.8%), Galicia (-0.4%) and Aragón (-0.1%). In some of those autonomous regions, the lowering of house prices may be influenced by the phenomenon of depopulation and the rising demand in large capitals and coastal areas.

Following an 11.6% decrease in the number of permits approved in November, the granting of permits to start new homes performed positively in December, with an increase of 5%, to 6,096 permits.

This increase favours the evolution of the real estate market in a scenario in which the large cities are facing demand that exceeds supply and there is a limitation on land development. In 2017, the number of new home permits amounted to 80,786, which represented an increase of 26.2% compared to 2016.

Original story: Expansión (by I. Benedito)

Translation: Carmel Drake