Latest index figures show Spanish property prices are stable, but rents down

Average residential property prices in Spain have remained stable, rising 0.1% in April compared to a year ago, according to the latest index data to be published.

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But the April increase is more moderate than the year on year growth recorded in March and February at 0.8% and 2.1% respectively, the data from real estate appraisal firm Tinsa shows.

However the figures also show that between January and April, house prices have accumulated an average increase of 1.9% and compared to the peak of the market in 2007 they are down 41.1%, a level similar to the summer of 2003.

A breakdown of the figures show that the biggest year on year price increase was on the Mediterranean Coast with growth of 4.4%. Prices in metropolitan regions were unchanged year on year and in large cities they were down 0.2%.

The Balearic Islands and the Canary Islands, where prices have been rising, saw a fall of 0.4% and the other municipalities group recorded a fall of 0.9% but this group had the biggest increase in prices between January and April at 3.8%.

Another set of figures show that compared with the end of 2015 prices are up more substantially, with growth of 3.8% in other municipalities in the first quarter of 2016, up 2.9% in the Balearic and Canary Islands, up 2.7% on the Mediterranean coast, up 1.1% in metropolitan areas and up 0.7% in large cities.

While prices are down overall by 41.1% comparted to the peak of the market, this decline varies according to location. It is down 30.6% in the Balearic and Canary Islands, down 35.8% in other municipalities, down 46.7% on the Mediterranean coast, down 45% in large cities and down 44.4% in metropolitan areas.

Separate figures from the National Statistics Institute show that average rents in Spain were down 0.1% in April year on year. It means that rents have now fallen for 37 months in a row.

But the latest decline is more moderate than the 0.2% recorded in March while for the first four months of the year rents are up 0.1% and there is regional variations.

Rents in Galicia increased by 0.4%, were up 0.3% in the Balearic Islands, up 0.2% in Navarre, Murcia, Andalucia, Catalonia and Melilla, but were unchanged in Cantabria.

But a number of regions saw declines, including a fall of 1.9% in La Rioja, down 0.6% in Castilla-La Mancha, Castilla y León, Extremadura and the Basque Country. Madrid record rental fall of 0.5%, while rents were down 0.3% in Asturias, by 0.2% in Aragón and Ceuta and by 0.1% in Valencia and the Canary Islands.

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