Spanish home sales increased last year for the first time since 2010, adding to signs that the property market is recovering from the worst recession in the country’s democratic history.
Transactions rose 2.2 percent from a year earlier to 319,389 units, according to data compiled by the National Statistics Institute. That’s still far below the peak in 2006, when 955,186 properties were sold.
“We are out of the operating room but we are still in the hospital,” said Fernando Encinar, co-founder of Idealista.com, Spain’s largest property website. He said 2013 was “the worst year of all for Spanish real estate sales, so any comparison will look good.”
More than two years since applying for a European Union rescue of its banking system, Spain has become one of the fastest-growing economies in the euro area as exports surge and investment rebounds. The country is poised to have the highest growth since 2007 this year.
Despite prices having dipped to their reported lowest, not every location in Spain offers the property bargains that one might expect as Martin Dell, Director of leading Spanish property portal, Kyero.com, which lists more than 175,000 homes from 2,500 estate agents, comments,
“There are some huge variations in residential property prices as you travel across Spain. Kyero’s Spanish House Price Index Q4 2014 revealed prices ranging from 260% above the national average all the way down to a location where prices are just 16% of the average.
“It means that buyers looking for good value properties need to be choosy about the areas they are considering. Buying on Fuerteventura, for example, can get you a property for just 68% of the national average price, while Mallorca will cost you 180% more than the average. ”
