housing price indexes

The latest quarterly property index has just been released by Spain’s Statistics Institute (INE). I have included all the pertinent information from the document below.

What is worth noting is that according to the national statistics, it looks like Spanish property prices might be bottoming out. And it even looks like the prices of resale’s/second homes have even improved slightly compared to the previous quarter. Prices have not increased, they are just not as bad as the last quarter.

And although all in all prices are down 7.7% in Spain, Andalucia, where the lovely Costa del Sol is located, prices are down only 3.3%, less than half the national average.

It is worth noting though in 2007 there were still many buyers and vendors were under declaring the sales prices of properties at notary. This is of course far harder to do now as the government and taxman has been cracking down on this practice. But the point I am making is that as many properties were under declared in the past the base figures should be taken with a pinch of salt.

Main results

? The annual variation rate of the HPI is -7.7% in the second quarter of 2009, one tenth lower than that registered the previous quarter.
? New housing registers a decrease of almost two points in its annual rate, and stands at –3.9%.
? The interannual variation of second-hand housing breaks with the decreasing trend, standing at –11.2% in the second quarter of 2009.
? The quarterly variation of the general index is –0.4%.

Results for the country as a whole

The interannual rate of the Housing Price Index (HPI) decreased one tenth in the second quarter of 2009, standing at –7.7%.
By type of housing, the annual rate for new housing continued to decrease, standing at – 3.9% in the second quarter of 2009, almost two points less than the previous quarter.
In turn, second-hand housing broke with its decreasing trend, and its annual rate recovered for the first time since the beginning of the series, from 12.5% in the first quarter of 2009 to –11.2% in the second quarter.

Results by Autonomous Community

All of the Autonomous Communities, as well as the autonomous city of Ceuta, presented negative annual rates during the second quarter of 2009, with Cataluña (-13.3%), País Vasco (-12.6%) and Comunidad de Madrid (-12.4%) being the Communities with the most pronounced decreases.

In turn, the only positive annual variation rate was observed in the autonomous city of Melilla, which registered a rate of 1.9% in the second quarter of 2009.

Regards
Andrew Belles
Costa del Sol property