The sale of 5,000 properties (10% of the housing inventory in Alicante province) during the second third of the year (May-August) is being taken as a sign that Alicante’s housing market might have turned the corner. At least that is the way that Provia – Alicante’s developer association – sees it in its latest report on the sector. According to Provia, this is the start of a slow return to normality for a sector that, in the words of Jesualdo Ros, general secretary of Provia “can’t get any worse.”
“We’ve touched bottom, and from now on things will start improving, though the future still looks pretty bleak,” Ros told the Spanish press.
Ros sees a glimmer of hope in the fact that sales declines appear to be bottoming out. Sales over the 4 months between May and August were 15% lower than sales in the first 4 months of the year. The collapse in sales at the same time last year was 51%, which makes the recent 15% fall look great in comparison.
Ros is, however, realistic about how difficult the recovery will be. There are 198 new developments under construction in the province, but in the last 4 months just 6 new developments have been started in the region, and the present sales rate is just one flat per development per month.
The developers insist that there is still demand for housing in Alicante (Costa Blanca property), and claim that the recent trouble in the stock markets is starting to drive investors their way. “It can’t fall any further, and the results of the last 4 months give us reason to look forward with a bit more enthusiasm,” said Ros.