Key indicators such as a net increase in new homes under construction in Malaga province confirm that the property sector is recovering, argues the Malaga Association of Economists.
For the first time since the crisis struck, more new homes are being started than finished in Malaga province, home to the Costa del Sol and its property market. Though the numbers are not big, the Malaga Association of Economists has identified this change as an important step in the right direction for the local housing market. They argue it confirms the gradual recovery of the local economy in general, and the housing market in particular. All this despite a shrunken level of public investment, and the continued lack of capital available to home builders.
“It marks a change in the trend,” said Fernando Alcázar, Director or Research for the Association, in comments to the Spanish press. “Although the numbers are very small (from 260 to 2,009), they’re very important qualitatively speaking.”
Other factors help build the picture, continues Alcázar. He points to the “rise in property prices, and the rising number of resale purchases driven up by the lack of new builds,” as positive signs of recovery in the housing market. Added to all this is the significant drop in unemployment in the construction sector,” he says. “All these factors lead us to the conclusion that this area of the economy is warming up”.
ECONOMIC RECOVERY
Then comes the wider economic context, which he also presents as positive. The data shows another annualised fall in unemployment in the province, down 4.15 per cent in a year, to a [still staggering] 32 per cent.
Another positive figure he highlighted was the increase of 8 per cent in the number of tourists visiting the province during Q1 2015, a “trend that doesn’t appear to be slowing down”. However, the same figures show that international visitor numbers declined 3 per cent in the period, and the growth came exclusively from domestic tourism.
