Average property prices still falling in Spain, but sales are up

Although the recovering in housing sales in Spain continues with transactions up by 1.9% in April, prices are still falling, the latest figures show.

The data from the General Council of Notaires shows sales up almost 2% in April but prices down by 3.9% year on year nationally. Overall a total of 30,758 transactions were completed which the council says ‘reflects the stabilisation in monthly sales’.

The average price of homes bought in April was ?1,188 per square meter with new homes, the data also shows and the number of mortgages available is rising, up 12.3% year on year. Buyers are also able to get higher loans with the average mortgage sixe up 9.2% to ?122,119.

Meanwhile, the average Spanish home costs ?200,000, according to the annual Spanish housing market report from appraisal firm Euroval.

But there are considerable regional variations in values. In Barcelona, for example some 54% of homes for sale are offered at less than ?254,000, whilst in Madrid 61% of homes for sale cost less than ?247,000. While in cities like Alicante, on the Costa Blanca, 58% of homes have a price below ?143,000.

The Euroval report also looks at what has been happening in the Spanish property market in the last couple of years and shows that sales increased by 21.63% between 2013 and 2014.

It also shows a decrease in the number of new homes being sold and the largest numbers of transactions are still taking place in Andalusia, which represents 19.2% of the total volume.
When it comes to valuation activity, the firm reports an 11.5% increase in 2014 over the previous year, after eight consecutive years of declines. But this is just 30% of the volume of appraisals which were carried out in 2005.

http://www.propertywire.com/news/europe/spain-property-prices-sales-2015070210698.html