The stats speak for themselves

Prices in Spain have dropped by nearly one third since the peak of the property boom.

Property statistics – they are the bane of a writer’s life and enough to have the reader immediately clicking the back button or quickly turning to the sports pages. There is nothing more mind-numbingly dull than having to carefully type such attention grabbing snippets as: ‘Prices up 2.1 per cent in Q3’ or ‘sales down 14.3 per cent year-on-year’ or ‘Euribor rate drops by 0.03 per cent’. It’s even harder to read it than it is to write it…

And if that isn’t bad enough, there is a whole host of conflicting data out there. Spain’s National Statistics Institute (INE) might say property prices dropped in Q2 by 2.5 per cent but real estate appraisal company TINSA might say they rose by 1 per cent. It can all be very confusing. Unfortunately figures are part and parcel of pretty much all articles about property in order to explain how well/poorly/unchanged the market is doing. But behind the percentages and numbers and graphs and pie charts there usually lies a very interesting story, so do try to stay awake.

A recent report by The Economist magazine in the UK shows that Spanish house prices have dropped by just over 31 per cent since 2008. Among the 26 countries analysed, Spain registered the third highest drop in prices worldwide, and the report states that they are continuing to fall. If you can stifle that yawn you may be interested to know that The Economist also says that properties in Spain are currently overvalued by between eight and 18 per cent, meaning that further price falls may be likely (though experts say that the biggest drops are now over). On average, prices are down 0.2 per cent over the same period last year. If you haven’t face-planted onto the keyboard yet be aware that industry analysts are divided in their opinions regarding the market bottoming out on the Costa del Sol. Some say it already has, others say it will do soon.

Either way (and this should perk you up) the message is that if you want to own a dream property on Spain’s sunny southern coast you need to act pronto. The fabulous climate, miles of sandy beaches and famous laid-back lifestyle will always be here, but the current crop of stunning properties at great prices almost certainly won’t be. Buyers – particularly Brits (thanks to a favourable exchange rate at the moment) – get much more bang for their buck these days and the Costa del Sol has lost none of its magnetic power over sun-seeking northern Europeans. The Economist is telling you that prices are almost a third cheaper than before the crash. Experts are saying that the market has bottomed/is close to bottoming out. Agents on the ground will tell you that they are now a lot busier than they have been for the last few years.

The mood is one of confidence and recovery on the Costa del Sol and with tourism to Spain so far this year having reached a record 10.6 million visitors in Q1 (of which the Andalucía region experienced a year-on-year 14.2 per cent rise, according to Frontur, the Spanish government’s tourist tracking department), the future is looking as bright as a summer’s day on a Marbella beach. Now those are a few stats we don’t mind reporting on…