After seven years of falling house prices, a majority of Spaniards now think property prices will stabilise this year, reveals a recent consumer attitudes survey. This is the first time since the property crash that a majority of Spaniards expect prices to stabilise.
To be precise, 50.1 per cent of those surveyed by the Centre for Sociological Studies (Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas CIS) in its Consumer Confidence Index compiled in December expect that prices will neither rise nor fall in the course of 2015.
26.1 per cent said they expect house prices to rise this year, whilst 17.9 per cent expect another year of falling property prices on top of the around 40 per cent cumulative decline since the peak.
Based on 1,500 interviews, the consumer confidence also revealed that 3.5 per cent of those surveyed plan to buy a property in the course of 2015.
Rising Confidence
The December Consumer Confidence Index published by the CIS also revealed a substantial increase in the general level of consumer confidence in Spain, with monthly and annualised improvements in attitudes towards both the current situation, and expectations for the future (illustrated above). Rising consumer confidence, if maintained, should have a positive influence on the domestic housing market, which is still in a deep crisis.
