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.
Spanish house prices have more than halved since they peaked in 2007, finds a new report by the University of Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona and Tecnocasa – a property company.
Based on a sample of transaction prices in Spanish cities including Barcelona, Madrid, Malaga, Seville and Valencia, the study found that house prices have fallen 53pc since the end of 2006, from 1,633€/m2 compared to 3,500€/m2.
On an annualised basis house prices are down 20.73pc over 12 months to end of June, broken down by city in the following table.
José García-Montalvo, the professor in charge of the study, points out that the research is based on real transaction prices, not valuations or estimates like other data. “They are prices from the front line, real prices based on actual sales made,” he said.
I suspect these figures are closer to the truth than any of the house price figures published by the Government, Notaries, or National Institute of Statistics, which all base their figures on valuations done by people who don’t know the real market price.
For example, the latest data published by the Notaries would have us believe that house prices have declined just 26.8pc since the peak in late 2007, giving up only the last couple of years of gains made at the tail end of the boom. Bearing in mind the housing crash and economic situation Spain is going through, who on earth is going to take that figure seriously?
Clearly not Eduardo Molet, head of Spain’s real estate expert network (REI), who recently claimed that resale house prices have already fallen 40pc on average, and as much as 60pc in some areas, and are set to continue falling. Nor, I doubt, Antonio Román, a Director of the bank Banesto, who recently said that discounts of 40pc are the threshold for making sales. “We believe that is where price and demand meet,” he told the Spanish press. And not even Tinsa, a leading appraisal company, whose latest house price index (for September) shows that property prices fell 11.6pc last month, and 33pc since the peak at the end of 2007.
Basically everyone except official sources and some appraisal companies say that Spanish house prices are already down 40pc or more. The sooner the official sources get real the better.
Vernon White says:
Doesnt stop Vendors trying it on still, asking prices are what they paid over 5 years ago !
All properties we like look of of way over priced and Vendors and Agents just dont listen , thats the only reason so much property remains on the market , i am talking of resales , not the cheap rubbish thrown up on the Costas.
If one makes a very reasonable offer they just laugh at you, despite still being on the market 3-6 years , perhaps they are all hoping for a rebound in the next year or two, not gonna happen guys , get real or remove your overpriced tired properties and make way only fro serious Vendors so the market makes sense !! PLEASE!!!!!
romney mitt says:
i suspect vendors are not ‘trying it on’, simply trying.
what’s your beef? some properties must be priced correctly or there wouldn’t be any sales at all.
just as the buyer looks for the best price, so does the seller. it isn’t ‘trying it on’.
just in case you’re wondering, no, i’m not selling – too many greedy buyers about.
Steve A says:
It’s really just a case of looking at the lowest priced adverts and then offering ten per cent less. The range of advertised prices from top price to lowest is vast – just don’t bother making offers on grossly overpriced property. Serious prices on the Costa del sol are now getting down as far as E1100 psm I see – about half the peak price (though fantasists would have you believe the peak price was much higher than E2200 psm).