A summary of the main Spanish property news stories in the week gone by.
- In a new report, the research department of banking-giant CaixaBank notes the big increase in house prices in many OECD countries between mid-2019 and 2022 (led by New Zealand on +49%) whilst prices rose just 6% in Spain. Since peaking in 2022 overheated markets have declined significantly (-10.4% since mid-2022 in Canada, -9.7% in Australia, -9.6% in Sweden, -5.9% in the US and -5.7% in Germany) with no change in Spain. CaixaBank forecast another two years of declines to take the average OECD decline to 10% since the peak, but predicts that prices will fall less than 3% in Spain.
- A left-wing political organisation from the Valencian region called Compromís, which is represented in the Spanish parliament, has called for laws to exclude foreign buyers from the housing market for three years, pointing to Canada as a role-model. The amendment has no hope of being included in the new housing-bill, which is expected to be approved by parliament on the 18th of May.
- Rental (asking) prices increased by 8.9% over 12 months to the end of April, reports the property portal Idealista. At an average of 11.5 €/sqm/month rents are the highest on record with the biggest increases in the provincial capitals of Malaga (+24%), Palma de Mallorca (+21%), Valencia (+21%), Alicante (+20%) and Barcelona (+19%). The Catalan capital has the highest rental asking prices in Spain (18.60 €/sqm/month). Landlords are probably raising asking prices in advance of a new housing-law that will cap rents in future.
- Sales asking prices increased by a national average of 7.3% in April (year-on-year), according to the same source, with asking prices rising 19% in Tenerife, 18% in Alicante, and 17% in Marbella, but just 2.5% in Barcelona. Data Hub subscribers can dive into the rental and sales data here.
- New EU net-zero rules establish 2030 as the deadline for eliminating all oil and gas boilers from the block’s housing-stock.
- With elections coming later this year, Spanish government minister, Vice-President and leader of the splintering hard-left government faction Yolanda Díaz has proposed limiting the purchase of homes in so-called “strained” housing markets to residents buying primary homes, and turning all rental contracts into indefinite contracts with rental caps, effectively transferring property rights from owners to tenants in all but name.
- The ECB raised base rates just 25 basis points to 3.75%, the highest rate since October 2008, but signalled a slowdown in rate-hikes going forward. 12-month Euribor in April came in at 3.757% meaning that a borrower with a typical 20-year €120,000 annually-resetting mortgage will see monthly repayments go up by 217€. See Euribor forecasts for 2023.
