Spanish home values are 4% higher than last year, official data shows

Steady price rises are good for Spain’s property industry, and 2016 has been a great example of sustained recovery.

Spain’s central government statistics unit last week published official figures on the state of the country’s property industry, revealing that the average residential property price has increased 4% in the past 12 months…

Having assessed all manner of monthly data, trends and regional variations, the government’s official figures paint perhaps the clearest picture yet of just how well the real estate market has performed in 2016.

The data is based on deeds registered throughout the year, and reveals that resale property values are 3.5% up on last year, with new build homes some 7.3% more expensive.

Taken on a quarterly basis, the figures also reveal a 0.8% increase on the previous quarter, which offers further encouragement to the industry that steady and sustained property price rises have become the norm, and should allay fears at both ends of the spectrum – that prices have begun to stagnate, or that prices are rising too quickly.

The reality is much more sober and reassuring. Regional differences remain stark, which in itself is actually cause for comfort. While there were slight price falls in some regions (notably Murcia, Comunidad Valenciana and Castilla y León), increases in the more popular areas of Madrid, Catalunya, the Balearics and the Costa del Sol were strong, and highlight the importance among buyers of a good location and top quality infrastructure.

These figures should offer extra encouragement for would-be buyers as we move into 2017 – a year that is predicted to be even stronger than 2016.