Commercial bank Bankinter has predicted an increase in Spanish property prices of 2% by the end of this year. According to a recently-published report, Bankinter believes this figure is feasible, along with the potential for 50,000 new home sales this year as Spain continues with its recovery.
According to separate predictions from agent Crystal Shore Properties, which specializes in property on the Costa del Sol, this could be followed by increases of up to 4% in some regions over the course of next year. Bankinter’s report suggests that new home sales in 2016, meanwhile, could rise to the 80,000 mark.
The Kyero Spanish House Price Index’s data for the second quarter of the year shows little change in prices so far since the first three months of 2015. Prices on the whole stayed pretty much constant, with the price of the average Spanish property hovering around the €234,000 level. This remains 16% lower than the average in 2005, when Kyero first began to collect and analyze data, when the average property in Spain cost €280,000. However, Spanish properties have recently been showing strong signs of recovery in key locations, and Bankinter believes that this year could still see things pick up sufficiently to reach the predicted 2% figure.
It is also worth noting that the Kyero index excludes certain properties. In particular, the index does not make use of data from those properties where the recorded number of bedrooms is not reliable, and properties where the freehold is not for sale such as fractional ownership, leasehold and rental properties.
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Overall Spanish home sales, encompassing both new and existing properties, are forecast to potentially reach 380,000 by the time this year draws to a close. This could further rise to 420,000, it is believed, over the course of next year. However, this would still leave total sales volumes behind their peak levels, which were achieved in the mid-2000s.
Overall, Crystal Shore Properties described Bankinter’s recent report as “positive news for the real estate sector.”
Crystal Shore went on to point out that, “2015 is said to be a stabilizing year before the beginning of the ‘real’ property market recovery.”
On the whole, it seems to be the provinces on Spain’s eastern coast which are faring best. Alicante was the east’s star performer, with the average asking price rising by 7% in the second quarter of the year to around €209,000. Barcelona was next in line, with prices rising by 4%. This was followed by Valencia’s growth of 3%, and Gerona and Tarragona which each saw prices rise 2%.
On Spain’s southern coast, by contrast, things looked considerably less positive in Q2. Cadiz was the only province to deliver price growth, with a 4% increase in the average asking price. Other popular provinces saw values fall. In both Malaga and Almeria, there was a decrease of 2% and Granada saw prices fall by 1%.
