The latest statistics published on Tuesday show that residential property prices in Spain during the second quarter of this year were 4% higher than twelve months previously, a welcome sign that the market is indeed now bouncing back after the difficulties of the last eight years.
During the second quarter alone, according to the country’s central statistics unit, the average price rose by 4.2%, bringing the yearly variation into positive territory, with the greater part of the upward trend being down to a 4.6% increase in the average price of second hand property between April and June. The cost of new-builds, which accounted for fewer sales, rose during the three months by 1.5% and has now gone up by 4.9% over the last year, while the year-on-year comparison shows used property prices standing 3.8% higher than twelve months ago.
This confirmation of the market recovery is the culmination of a process which began in the second quarter of 2014, when the first price increase for six years was reported. This upward trend has now been maintained for five consecutive quarters.
The bounce-back effect is further underlined by the fact that prices were higher in the second quarter of this year than last year in all seventeen of Spain’s regions, with the greatest inflation being reported in the Basque Country (7.3%), Madrid (6.4%), Catalunya (5.5%) and Cantabria (5.1%). The worst performing regions were all in the north and west of Spain, with price increases of under 1% observed in Extremadura, Navarra, Asturias and Galicia.
During the second quarter alone prices rose by over 5% in Catalunya and Cantabria, and the smallest rise was the 1% recorded in Extremadura, and these latest figures can be taken as a sign that investment in Spanish property is once again becoming a viable proposition.
