Average property prices in Spain inch up again over summer

Spanish banks are now more willing to lend to would-be buyers, helping to create more demand, which in turn has pushed up prices.

The average cost of a house in Spain has increased by around 2% over the 12 months ending June 30, according to new data published by the country’s Ministry of Development.

The figures show that a typical square metre patch of property now costs €1,506 – which is the first time since mid-2013 that housing has broken the €1,500 per-square-metre barrier. The latest data also reveals that this is the fifth successive quarter where property prices were higher than a year previously – bucking a six-year trend where the opposite was true…

In short, property prices in Spain are no longer declining, but have stabilised and begun to increase nationwide. Some regions, such as the perennially popular Costa del Sol – have been registering price increases for longer, while the recovery in many of Spain’s inland regions, rarely visited by tourists or wealthy foreign buyers, languished in the doldrums.

Largely, that no longer appears to be the case. Spain’s economic recovery may be slow, but it is at least steady and tangible, delivering this year more jobs and greater employment security than it has done for nearly a decade. This, allied to greater confidence in the banking sector, has created a more conducive environment for buyers, thus leading to these price rises.

However, some regions such as Navarra, Aragón and the Basque Country, are still posting negative property price decreases, bucking the trend of elsewhere.

Further, while prices are now increasing, they are still some way below the peak levels seen in 2008, when the typical price paid for a square metre of property in Spain was €2,101. Today, housing values are some 28% below those levels, but mercifully above the lowest point of €1,456 per square metre registered in the third quarter of 2014.