The long awaited... Upturn in the Spanish Property Market
The number of houses sold is up. The number of mortgages granted is up. The number of foreign buyers is up. The number of new construction projects is up and yes... in some key areas the prices are starting to go up too.
After a seven year slide, where prices kept on dropping and buyers were thin on the ground, everything remained bleak in the Spanish property market. Prices dropped 40% from their 2007 peak and the British buyers (the largest source of foreign purchasers ) became scarce, dropping 80% .
However, 2014 has brought several refreshing changes:
At the beginning of the year, several large investor funds swooped in buying in bulk from Spain’s “bad bank” the EU funded repository for many of Spain’s toxic real estate assets. A sign no doubt that the ‘smart money’ with a long term investment strategy felt that the market was about to turn.
Spanish banks themselves have started to lend again based on today’s cheaper property prices and there has been the first increase in new mortgage signings since 2006.
The volume of houses sold has risen for four consecutive months. Averaging an 11.75% increase http://www.ine.es/en/welcome.shtml March-June. ( Last available figures from the INE – Spanish National Institute of Statistics)
And most telling of all, Market up for the first time in almost 7 years, the last quarter experiencing a national average increase of 0.97% - prices at 2003 level www.elmundo.es/economia
All the above constitutes a clear sign that the Spanish property market is now on the upturn.
There is a window of opportunity to purchase the remaining few properties being offered with large discounts on the Costa del Sol. Savvy investors and lifestyle purchasers can both take advantage and get into the Spanish property market now
