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.
The official Spanish House Price Index from the Department of Housing fell by 10pc in 2012, as illustrated by the chart above.
This is the first time since records began that Spanish property prices have fallen by double digits in nominal terms, at least according to the Department of Housing, part of the Ministry of Public Works (Fomento):
In real terms, after adjusting for inflation, Spanish house prices fell 12.9pc last year, and have fallen by double digits for the last three quarters.
Average national Spanish house prices are now 27pc below the peak in nominal terms, and almost exactly the same as they were in real terms 10 years ago, when the property boom was just getting going.
So even by the Government’s notoriously optimistic figures, it looks like Spanish property prices have been purged of their boomtime excesses.
House prices fell by 10pc or more last year in most of the regions popular with foreign holiday-home buyers. This table summarises house price changes for a selection of popular regions over various time frames.
Spaniards still lack economic confidence to buy homes
Falling house prices are one reason why so many Spaniards say they have no plans to buy a home this year. Expectations of lower house prices are making Spaniards wait and see.
Just 3pc of the adult population in Spain plan to buy a home this year, according to the latest consumer confidence survey by the CIS
Economic worries are the other big reason. With unemployment above 25pc and many of the rest wondering how long they will keep their jobs, Spaniards are understandably cautious about buying property
Steve A says:
Prices on the Costa del Sol may have fallen to’just’ E1549 psm from peak but one has to bear in mind that at the end of 2000 prices were only E841 psm. In other words prices are still double what they were 13 years ago, and so they may still have a fair way to fall.