The property market strengthens trends. If 2022 closed on a somewhat optimistic note given the macroeconomic news Spain received from Europe, 2023 confirms a positive route appeasing individuals and investors alike. The industry closely follows some of the main indicators as are the number of purchases and mortgages or average property prices, which brings good news today.
This is because, according to Tinsa’s Spanish Property Market Indicator (Índice de Mercados Inmobiliarios Españoles, IMIE), a national appraisal company, average new build and second-hand home prices rose 0.3% during January with regards to December and year-on-year growth was moderated until 6.9%, the lowest rate since March 2022. This stabilisation is important since it both demonstrates the much-anticipated gradual and moderate adjustment and secures even more the industry’s stability recorded in the last months.
The territorial analysis shows the overall price increase in the Spanish residential market. All analysed areas from the report exhibited year-on-year rises at the start of 2023. Metropolitan areas registered the steepest increases as property prices have risen 8.2% in relation to last January. These are followed by provincial capitals and large cities (+7.3%), inland and Atlantic coastal towns (+7.1%), the Mediterranean coast (+5.1%), and the Islands (+2.1%).
2007 housing boom numbers are long gone
Giving context when talking about numbers always helps to see where we are at. In this sense, 2023 is very distant from the record data registered just over 15 years ago. The average new build and second-hand home prices reached a maximum during December 2007, at the height of the housing boom. Since then, the average value of flats in Spain has declined by 20.9%.
Prices in provincial capitals and large cities have fallen 16.5% since then, while smaller inland and Atlantic coastal towns -which recovered later on- have done so by 28.8% from record highs.