After a truly dismal October, the Spanish property market did slightly better in November, with sales up 20pc on a monthly basis. Compared to 12 months ago, however, sales were down 8.6pc.

Excluding social housing, there were 28,732 home sales in November, of which 15,957 were new sales and 16,789 resales.

As you can see from the following chart, the annualised decline looks like it is starting to bottom out. That sounds like good news, but in a way it is a reflection of how far the market has sunk.

As the next chart shows, after signs of a feeble recovery in the first half of the year, the market bombed in the last 3 months as a VAT hike kicked in and bad economic news failed to raise spirits.

At least the news is a bit better on a year-to-date basis, with 2010 still up on the previous year over 11 months.

The following table shows YTD sales and rates of change over the last 4 years.

And finally, a table showing changes in selected regional markets in the year to date.

Barcelona is doing best, up 31pc on the same period last year, and Castellon, home to the Costa Azahar, is doing worst, down 15pc. Popular holiday-home destinations like Malaga (Costa del Sol), Almeria, and Murcia are all down on last year.