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.
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.
