A PROSPEROUS PERIOD FOR THE HOUSING MARKET IN SPAIN
Properties have always contributed to the economic growth of Spain for most of history. There is a lot of political will going into the recovery of this sector. The fact is that despite the financial crisis, there is good news for the housing market, along with the celebration of the Barcelona Meeting Point for increasing its numbers of participants. According to the statistics provided by the BMP, the only international real-estate trade show in Spain, by October 23rd, there were more than 33,000 public visitors, and more than 10,000 professionals participating in this event.
The first-half of 2016 has been a very good period for the real-estate sector in Spain, which semi-annual reports testify towards. These show a considerable increase in the number of transactions carried out, as well as the value of these. Several studies carried out by various consultancy firms demonstrate that there are good growth prospects to be witnessed in this sector; with prices less than 25% from previous years, and increasingly competitive mortgage products being offered.
19 POSITIVE NEWS STORIES FOR THE SPANISH REAL-ESTATE SECTOR
The change in trends is undeniable; slowly but surely, the real-estate sector is becoming a focal point for the economy. We present a series of data to demonstrate this. Improvements began last year, and now we are seeing them being consolidated.
1. The residential market continues to stabilise. According to data from the NIS (National Institute of Statistics), housing sales have increased by 19.4% since last June, and has seen five consecutive months of growth
2. The first-quarter of 2016 bore witness to an increase in housing investments by 20%, reaching €24 billion according to various consultants.
3. In the first-quarter, investments in any product analysed (residential, industrial, offices, houses) saw higher returns than those from one year ago, according to the real-estate portal idealista.com
4. In the second-quarter of 2016, 8 out of 10 houses sold were second-hand; nationwide, a total of 107,838 homes were sold; the best since early 2011.
5. The city of Barcelona continues to witness increased sales in residential neighbourhoods.
6. According to a report compiled by the renowned consultant Aguirre Newman, investments into Barcelona’s real-estate has generated around €1977 million, 43% more than in 2014.
7. 18% of total properties sold in Spain in 2015 have been bought by international investors (around 69,200 or 1 in 5 homes) according to the Ministry of Public Works.
8. Spain is the 9th most attractive country with regards to investments in the housing and construction sector. It has gone up by seven positions in this raking and joins the league of countries such as the USA, UK, India, China, Canada, UAE, Germany and Sweden, according to data by Ernst & Young.
9. Spain is third in Europe when it comes to housing investments, with a figure of around €5.5 billion, surpassed only by the UK and Germany.
10. Housing sales have begun to grow, after a weak period in the last-quarter of 2015. Transactions have increased by 31%, and second-hand housing now accounts for 80.3% of the market.
11. Demand has increased, after the positioning of real-estate associations (Socimis) in the previous years.
12. Promotional activity has also seen an increase, reaching approximately 60,000 properties annually. Recent promotion has focused on the urban plot market, especially in larger municipalities.
13. Housing stock declined in 2015 for its sixth-year running, with the increase in demand for new houses accelerating the adjustment.
14. There has been slight decrease in effort when purchasing a home, compensated however by the improving housing conditions, which has increased house prices. Effort remains at 2000 levels, however in that year, tax deductions reduced the final percentage of income used to pay for mortgages by 23%.
15. Visas granted by technical architectural schools to build new homes in Spain have increased by 27.5%, one of the highest levels since 2011 according to the Ministry of Public Works.
16. Number of new real-estate companies in Spain have increased by 11% according to Infoempresa.
17. The College of Property Registrars have alluded to an increase in prices; in the first-quarter of 2016, Spanish house prices increased by 7.6%, which was maintained for nine consecutive months.
18. The European Central Bank has maintained interest rates at 0% in September for six months running. Since 2014, interest rates on mortgages have remained at very low levels, leading to increased real-estate activity which has been continuous for 25 months.
19. Bankinter forecasts have placed the total number of transactions for 2016 at more than 480,000.
Are you thinking of investing in Spain? If so in what area or city would you like to invest in? What do you think of this good news stories? Leave your comments!