Friday 17 October 2014

TINSA publishes Septembers house price index in Spain

Spains major property valuation company report a further a decline in house prices.


Despite a general feeling that activity in buying in Spain has increased this year, TINSA one of Spains largest valuation companies has reported a further decline in prices during September.

TINSA has been monitoring average house prices since 2001 and gauge their index against 2001 prices.

Report Highlights


Highlights of the report include a stalling of increases in the Balearics who had been showing some small growth in recent months and a much lower than average drop in Towns near to major Cities.

All other areas show a continuing decrease all be it at a much slower pace than seen in previous years.

The average drop in prices sonce the height of the market now sits at minus 41.7% with the coastal areas being hardest hit and down a massive 47.3%.

Average prices according to TINSA now reflect prices in Spain from June 2003.

Current trends


Unlike the INE who take their infromation from Land Registry TINSA report against their own valuations undertaken within the month and the information and amount of properties is a relativley small sample.

Because the sample is small it could be argued it is not relevant but over the years it can show robust trends and reflects the veiw of the INE when looking at August data that prices have not as yet bottomed out.

Good news for potential buyers in Spain but not such good news for those selling in Spain.

Read the full article: House price index in Spain

 



Wednesday 8 October 2014

Spanish property purchases show a decline in August


Buyers in Spain decrease in August.


After the buoyant month of July it has come as a bit of a suprise that the transfer of properties in Spain declined in August.

Many parties involved in house transactions like Spanish Lawyers, Developers and Mortgage brokers had reported they expected the upturn in house sales to continue.

So is August a blip 


It is normal for the level of sales between the months of July to August to reduce,this is part of the normal market conditions. What is not the normal trend is that the decline should be so high and what is a suprise is that the figures are down on August 2013 as well as month on month.

Whether this decline will continue is diffcult to say but it is true that the number of offers on properties and general level of numbers of purchasers looking to buy in Spain remains reportedly good. The lead time from offer to completion has extended, this can due to a number of factors including more diligent legal checks being undertaken and the securing of a Spanish Mortgage. Given the data is extracted from Land Registry which is right at the back end of the buying process it could be the figures just reflect other issues rather than lack of sales.

New builds versus resales


What is undeniable is that of the 1.1% decline in sales of dwellings against last years figures the sale of second hand property is not the problem. Resales were actually up 15.2% but new builds decreased by 22.1% which is really bad news for Development companies and Spanish Banks both of which hold high levels of new property stock.

Total sales


In August 47,193 properties transferred title. Of this 23,525 were actual sales the rest being made up of swaps, donations, inheritance and others. In others sits the transfer of property under repossession, in August 12,947 dwellings moved on this basis.

Read the full article: Conveyance of Spanish Houses in August

  


Wednesday 1 October 2014

Are house prices in Spain really rising

The INE in Spain reported for the second quarter a small but positive increase in the overall price of property in Spain.

Since the year of 2008 this was the first quarter of any price increase after property prices crashed by over 40%.

Increases in Spanish house prices in quarter 2


The national statistical office in Spain takes it infromation from actual sales of Spanish homes completed and across all sales that have taken place. Given this is the case one would expect the data to be closest to reality in comparision with other instituations that provide similar data.

The key issue with the data is that information on what is happening in the market has only be kept since 2007. This means that whilst the specific data for that quarter is robust there is insufficient years to predict trends and analyse whether the quarter in question is a one off or the start of a true recovery.

A blip or a sustained trend


Other providers of data like TINSA  report on a more regular live time basis and over a longer period of time. TINSA however take their data from their own valuations undertaken in the month and use a relativley small sample.

TINSA like the INE are predicting at least some sort of stabilisation and whilst they are still showing year on year decreases on price per meter square the rate of decline has slowed significantly.

The month of August however was reported by TINSA as showing another month of declines when looking at each region.

Should buyers panic buy


Legal advisers are reporting an increasing number of sales falling through for their buyers due to a higher offer from someone else and generally higher levels of buying activity from overseas buyers. This is mainly the case in the areas relating to the main Cities the traditional tourist areas as non resident buyers who believe the bottom of the market has been reached look to secure their holiday home at value levels not seen since 2003.

As in any market as volatile as the current Spanish one and with a lack of long term robust data it must be remembered that a few incidences of gazumping and higher front end activity does not mean people should panic buy. The Spanish legal process should be followed diligently at all times no matter how many other parties are interested.

Read the full article: House prices in Spain have they stabilized