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 asking price index from Fotocasa.es, a property portal, shows that vendors reduced their price expectations by an average of 0.7% in April compared to a year ago (highlighted in yellow above), whilst the house price index from the Government has prices up 2.4% in Q1.
FOTOCASA ASKING PRICES INDEX
The average asking price in April was 1,624 €/m2, down by 0.2% in the month.
The Fotocasa asking price index has been fairly stable for the last year, with prices never varying more than 1% either up or down.
“House prices will continue to go in different directions during 2016,” explains Beatriz Toribio, head of research at Fotocasa. “Whilst in some areas of the country prices are stabilising or even rising, in others they continue to fall hard. This is a consequence of the crisis the sector has lived through, which has left a market of two or more speeds that is ever more obvious.
Peak-to-present, house prices have fallen 45% since April 2007, when the national average topped out at 2,952 €/m2. Prices have fallen by 50.5% in Murcia, 47.5% in the Valencian Region, 47% in Catalonia, 43.9% in Madrid, and 42.6% in Andalusia.
GOVERNMENT (FOMENTO) HOUSE PRICE INDEX
The average prices of residential property in Spain (excluding subsidised housing) was 1,492 €/m2 in Q1, according to the Government (Fomento), based on valuations data. Year-on-year, the change was +2.4%, and +0.2% in the quarter.
Based on Government figures, Spanish house prices are down 29% peak-to-present 34% in real terms), with the peak being Q1 2008. Prices bottomed out in Q3 2014.
The highest prices in municipalities of more than 25,000 residents are in the Basque Country’s San Sebastian (2,994 €/m2), followed by Ibiza (2,620 €/m2), Sant Cugat del Vallès (2,610 €/m2), Barcelona (2,595 €/m2), and Madrid (2,534 €/m2).
By autonomous region house prices rose the most in the Balearics (9.6%), followed by Catalonia (4.9%), Madrid (4.2%), Extremadura (3.7%), Galicia (2.6%), the Valencian region (2.4%), and the Canaries (2.4%).
This data was based on 110,133 valuations, up 14% by volume compared to last year.
