News for housing market Spain

National Statistics Office Spain

This week the INE National statistical Office in Spain published two reports relating to the performance of the housing market in Spain.

HPI

The first related to the House Price Index. The HPI is a measurement of  what is happeing to prices as set against a base year of 2007. Up until the 2nd quarter of 2014 this had been dropping as the market fell. Since 2014 we have seen small but never the less sustained increases.

The first quarter of 2015 did not perform as well as the last quarter of 2014 and fell back by 0.60% the index however remains 1.5% above the base so house prices against the base are no longer falling.

Prices by region and sales type

Regional differences show that prices are more stable in general in the regions that alos have international buyers as well as the domestic market. It is also the case that new build prices are rising and resale prices seem to still be falling. These two factors skew the overall results.

House sales

The second report related to actual sales in the Month of april as registered as a transfer of property ownership at Land registry. It is most likely this will relate to actual sales in February this year.

Again significant regional differences applied and whilst sales were up on the same month of the previous year sales were down from March this year. Whilst this pattern is normal it does suggest we are only seeing in Spain a steady upturn in buisness rather than a flood of activity.

Data outcomes

Sales of new builds are down and now only account for one quarter of all sales of homes in Spain. It is therefore somewhat suprising that developers have chosen this moment to put up prices for buyers in Spain and they may be a little ahead of the curve.

Sales by region also seemed to reflect where prices had risen the most sales are now under pressure.

The market is better and things have stabilized but we still have some way to go before we can be sure this is going to be sustained without any backward steps.  

Read the full article :- Housing market data in Spain

March house sales increase slowly

March sales of homes continue a year on year upward trend.

 

Sales of property in Spain increased in March according to the data issued by the statistical office.

The bulletin reports on the transfer of all property rights as provided by the Notaries and Land registry in Spain.

The data includes all transfers so not just sales of homes but sales of commercial property and land and includes other transfers such as those changing ownership by way of inheritance, donations and bank repossessions.

Sales of homes increased against March of last year by 2.1% but were down on the month of February of this year. Whilst sales were down from February apart from last year, which was a blip, this followed the normal selling and buying pattern for the relevant months.

Who is buying and where

Buyers are made up of Spanish Nationals and foreign investors and the data does not seperate these.

The normal areas most attractive to international buyers did not however have the best months ever.

Whilst as normal Andalucia had the most absolute sales of dwellings at 22,582 homes the region was in fact down by 2.1% on last year. The Canaries and the Balearics both again havens for foreign buyers were down by 8.1% and 21% respectivley. 

New build volumes drop

New house sales were down by 40.9% whilst used homes or resales were up 32.8% and protected housing up over 8%.

New build pricing has been increasing over the last few months and this could be having an affect on  volumes.

Will UK pension changes help Spanish sales 

Changes in the pension rules in the UK starting in May this year should increase the traffic of UK buyers for holiday homes and rental. This was evidenced at the Place in the Sun show in Olympia last week.

Potential buyers are taking a more measured approach to the buying process and sellers and legal advisers can expect to be asked far more detailed and pertinent questions before making a commitment than has been true in the past.

Read the full article :- Buyers in Spain increase in March

Inheritance tax in Spain

Inheritance tax in Spain follows a different process to that of the UK and other countries.

Key Differences

One of the key differences in Spain is that there is no spousal expemtion meaning if an asset is held jointly the joint owner must pay IHT ( death duties) on the part of the asset held by a joint deceased owner. This is immaterial of whether the owner is living in Spain or is non resident of Spain and whether or not spousal exemption would apply in their own country.

Whilst the rules of the country of birth will follow for the Spanish asset, death duties are payable at death in Spain.

A second and fundemental difference is that death duties are the responsibilty of the beneficary not the estate.  In order to take over an asset bequeathed, the inheritor must first pay any taxes due. It is not possible in Spain without agreement from the tax office to sell the asset in order to pay death duties.

Why make a Will in Spain

When considering buying in Spain the purchaser should consider what will happen in death, who the property will be left to and their ability to pay death duties. If there is a Spanish Will in place this should match any Will made out in the normal country of residency ( where the buyer was born).

A Will for the asset or assets held in Spain will speed up the probate process significantly. If no Will exists in Spain the process of probate will be longer, more complicated and more costly. Finally the closest relatives will inherit as stipulated by the rules of the country by which the deceased was born but a Will being in place will assist this greatly.

Appointing a Lawyer

The benefits of apppointing a Lawyer to write a Will in Spain are threefold. Firstly a Lawyer will ensure there are no contradictions with any other wishes held in other Wills, secondly they can advise on the best way to minimise death duties and thirdly they can ensure at death, as the executor of a Will that matters progress as the deceased would have wanted and with the least pressure on the beneficary who may not be in the best place to deal with matters at that point.

Read the full article :  Inheritance tax in Spain the facts and the fiction

Transfer of Property Rights February 2015

February Sales Figures

Data out this week shows that property purchases in Spain continue their upward trend.

Year on year residential transfer of ownerships are up over 15%. Overall total transfers were only up 5% as other types of trasnfer types and commercial property sales remained stagnant.

Dwelling sales made up over 65% of all sales and only the Canaries when looking at areas attractive to overseas buyers showed a decrease in the month.

Sales in February were lower than January by 11% but this is a normal trend when looking over the last 5 years. Only in 2011 were there more sales in the month of February than January so the data should not casue any concern that an improving sales market will not continue.

Sales by Region

Andalucia as normal had the most property sales within the month and Cataluna, Madrid, the Balearics and Valencia all performed well.

Increased activity from buyers in Spain looks set to continue through 2015 as prices have bottomed and the Euro remains under pressure against other currencies.

Other Titles

One slighty worrying statistic is that the amount of property transfered under the heading of other titles includes where Banks have taken over property from defaulted mortgage holders remaines a very high percentage of overall transfer of ownership. This area is equivalent to 30% of the amount of home sales and some 19% of all property transfers.

Read the full article: Purchases of homes in Spain

Increased sales and upward pricing is good news for property in Spain

The last couple of days have seen two bits of good news coming out of Spain.

The first is that for yet another month the sale of Spanish Homes increased in January as reported by Land Registry.

Whilst overall property transfers were down, in the key market of sale of homes there was a 9.6% increase from the same month of the previous year.

Resales versus new builds

Resales once lagging well behind the sales of off plan new builds made up 70% plus of all sales. This is good news for individual owners and sellers in Spain.

Regionally the traditional holiday and tourist areas in general performed better than the Cities and Towns with the Canaries outperforming everywhere else.

At the same time as sales are on the up 2014 eneded with the first grwoth on prices since 2007.

Price increases were small and not across the whole of Spain but we are now seeing real signs that the bottom of the market has been reached and that slowly but surely sales will increase and prices will stop falling.

Buying in Spain

For those who wish to own a property in Spain 2015 may be a good year to buy. Prices have bottomed out and exchange rates are currently very good when compared with this time last year.

Mortgage availibilty is increasing and rates are coming down marginally. We are not going to see a masive explosion but all the indications are that 2015 will be an improvement on 2014 when considering the sales of Real Estate. 

Approach the recovery with caution

Despite this recovery there remains a great deal of property available and buyers should not be pannicked into buying without taking the necessary steps to ensure the security of their money. Contracting before commiting to a purchase quality lawyer services is still as important now as it has ever been.

Read the full article:Increased sales and upward pricing is good news for property in Spain 

 

New Buyers Increase in Spain for 2014

The number of new buyers of residential property in Spain showed a small increase in 2014.

Total sales of homes increased by 1.9% whuch when considered against the fact for the first 6 months of 2014 numbers were down on 2013 was no mean feat and suggests some sort of sustained recovery is underway.

Who was buying in 2014

Lawyers and Real Estate agents all reported a strong finish to the year with a significant increase in particular in International Buyers. Americans and British residents owning homes in Spain all showed an increase in the year and the only fly in the ointment was a reduction in Russian buyers due to the impact of sanctions and internal turmoil within Russia itself.

What was selling and where 

Resales or used housing, once at levels well below the sales of new builds, made up nearly three quarters of the house sales which was good news for existing owners trying to sell.

In general traditional holiday regions outperformed other regions except for Murcia who ended the year down on 2013.

The Islands the Balearics and the Canaries had the strongest yearly performances as percentage incrases against the previous year.

2015 what next

In 2014 January was a very high month for new property sales and the best within the year when considering number of new property owners so it will be interesting to see January 2015 figures to be sure the upward trend is continuing.

Read the full article:-New and Used house purchases up in Spain for 2014

Transfer of ownership figures for Spain

INE data for November. Data

Data out on the 12th of January relating to house sales in Spain for November was a mixed bag of good and bad news.

Overall property transfers were down but when considering just the sales of residential homes the figures year on year were up.

Types of property selling

Resales outsold new builds by quite someway continuing a trend that has been in place since the boom years halted.

Urban property outsold country property but as a percentage of total sales country properties are holding up well.

Month on month trends

Whilst year on year figures showed an increase when assessing sales against the month of October to November over a 5 year period 2014 novemeber sales dropped away at higher rate than we have seen for the last 5 years.

Regional sales

Andalucia continued to have the highest number of home sales driven by it international buyers market. Madrid and Cataluna all sold above the mean average as did Valencia but Valencia showed a year on year decline.

Real Estate agents are reporting high levles of foreign interest for the housing market owning property in Spain remains popular, but to move out of its rather stagnate current position the Spanish Nationals need to start buying again.

Read the full article : Property sales for November