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 price declines are still in the double digits, show the latest figures from the notaries.
Average Spanish house prices fell 10.2pc over twelve months to November, according to figures from the General Council of Notaries (see blue line in chart above).
The average price per square metre fell to 1,166 €/m2, and peak-to-present Spanish house prices are down close to 40pc, as illustrated by the following chart.
House sales fell by 22.2pc over the same period, or 19pc adjusted for seasonal variations.
Mortgage lending was down by 30.6pc (27,8pc seasonally adjusted), and the average mortgage loan down by 7.1pc.
The November decline in sales is not as bad as it looks. It is mainly due to distortions caused by fiscal changes that inflated sales in November 2012, rather than a fresh slump in demand.
Fiscal distortions have been a regular feature of this crash. All the spikes in the chart below reflect fiscal changes that moved sales within periods, but failed miserably to achieve the goal of increasing demand.
In separate news, figures from the Bank of Spain show that residential investment in 2013 fell an annualised 8pc, the sixth consecutive year of declines. Residential investment has fallen from 65pc of GDP in 2006 to 4.2pc today.
