This is a website for buyers, owners, and sellers of property in Spain, offering reliable information and resources to help you get things done with confidence. It is run by Mark Stücklin, author of the Spanish Property Doctor Column in The Sunday Times (2005-2008), and the book ‘Need to Know: Buying Property in Spain’ published by Collins.
Property portal Facilisimo says asking prices rose in November, Idealista says they fell
First of all the news from Facilismo.com that between October and November, vendors put up their asking prices by an average of 0.05%, the first time Facilisimo’s asking price index has increased since June 2007, bringing to an end 40 months of monthly price declines.
Compared to November last year, asking prices were still down 4.2pc, but that is the lowest annualised decline this year.
Asking prices rose month-to-month in eight regions lead by Galicia (+3.46pc), Cantabria (+2.73pc) and Murcia (+1.19pc), and declined in eight regions lead by Navarre (-1.32pc), Aragon (-0.34pc), and The Valencian Community (-0..24pc).
“The end of mortgage tax relief and the almost total lack of new construction means that price declines are coming to an end,” explains Juanra Doral, head of Facilisimo.com. “Despite the government urging vendors to lower their prices, the majority will only do so if they really have to, preferring to maintain the present minimum value.”
Asking prices down in November say Idealista
But according to Idealista.com, another big Spanish property portal, (resale) asking prices fell 1.2pc in November compared to the previous month.
Prices fell in 14 regions, compared to 11 the previous month, and at an increasing rate. Asking prices rose a fraction in just 2 regions; Extremadura and Asturias, didn’t change in Andalucia, and fell the most in The Canaries (-2.4pc) and The Valencian Region (-1.4pc).
Unhelpfully, Idealista do not provide annualised price change figures.
jonte says:
Think about it logically. There seems very little reason for the Spanish property market to recover ever again. Spain is one of the piigs and just about broke which takes care of the indigenous population and as for foreigners buying property in Spain, whilst a few misguided Norwegians are buying at rock bottom prices most foreigners have learned the lesson of buying Spanish property.
Despite appeals from all quarters for the buying and selling of property in Spain to be made demonstrably safe, the minister for housing continues with her violin lessons preparing for the day when she will attempt to pass off as Nero.
Which country in the world would suffer an act like the LRAU 1994 and not expect to be hurt by it? Everyone apart from Spain. With increasing numbers of UK expats heading for Australia, Cyprus and Turkey the question which goes begging is does Spain notice these people as they fly high above in their air space heading for their new homes.
Probably not and if they did would they care?
Ed Allen says:
There may be a lot of truth in what is in the previous comments.
Having retired family in Northern Spain and being retired myself it had been our intentions to sell our UK home and that in France to live in Spain also.
I have seen my brothers home devalue by perhaps as much as 50% assuming you even find a buyer for it. So we may yet still buy a small home there knowing it will probably lose value and may never be able to sell it (at least in the next decade or my lifetime) but will retain the security of another home probably in the UK too.
There are so many uncertainties for any one contemplating buying in Spain and becoming resident. All the predictors are for continued falling property prices so any purchase will lose value. Reselling may be a bigger problem if it was necessary.
It is the financial uncertainties of Spanish economy that becomes a more worrying factor.
Will the banks who cling on to unrealistic values of their property portfolios collapse and need bailing out too?
Then unemployment is astronomical and that has a social cost.
It leads to rising crime and rising taxes to pay for the social costs and any bail out. This will all lead in turn to higher inflation and the overall effect will be a less appealing Spain to reside in compared to other European countries.
Now we have so much speculation of the continued existence for the euro too. Though I believe the line of thought is it will be more costly for it to fail than to maintain it will prevail and it is a corner stone of the EU. There is no doubt that the fallen value of the pound against the euro also contributed to seconds thoughts about residence abroad and many pensioners could no longer afford to remain in Spain on fixed pensions.
You have to be incredibly optimistic to believe Spain will recover as a place of choice to buy holiday property in the next decade though its popularity as a holiday country will undoubtedly remain.