Spanish house price falls
Official figures show average Spanish property prices fell by 3.2 per cent last year although they were still rising in some regions...
The official house price index from the Ministry of Housinghas revealed that average Spanish property prices fell by 3.2 per cent in 2008, although real prices, after adjusting for inflation fell by 4.6 per cent.
Mark Stucklin of Spanish Property Insight, said, "This is the first time we have seen year on year price falls in the official index since the market started to slump in the second half of 2007. Officially, at least, nominal property prices have not not fallen since 1993."
Average prices fell almost everywhere, although some provinces did witness a slight rise - Seville (+3.4 per cent), Cádiz (+3 per cent), Valencia (+0.9 per cent) and Extremadura (+0.1 per cent), according to the Government's figures.
Prices fell most in the Madrid province (-7.6per cent), followed by Murcia (-5.8 per cent), Tenerife (-5.8 per cent), and Castellón (-5.3 per cent).
"Over 10 years however, Spanish property values are still 215 per cent higher in Andalucia, 211 per cent in Murcia and 200 per cent in the Balearics," continued Stucklin.
Despite the new figures from the Ministry of Housing, two of Spain's leading appraisal companies believe prices are falling much more.
Tinsa predicted a fall of 8.8 per cent, while Sociedad de Tasación believes they have dropped by 6.6 per cent. Tinsa predicts that in coastal areas prices are down by as much as 14.3 per cent, though estate agents and developers predict a drop of up to 30 per cent in some areas.
Source: www.homesworldwide.co.uk