Property prices grew over the last 3 quarters
The average price of housing in Spain increased by 0.8% in the second quarter of 2016, when compared to the same period in the previous year.
The figure represents the third consecutive quarter of growth despite being below the 1.4% increase recorded in the first quarter of the year.
The cumulative average price fall since the peak pre-crisis prices is currently 40.9%, according to the latest house price index released by Tinsa.
For the first time since the onset of the financial crisis, prices have shown an increase in Extremadura, Valencia and Castilla y León, with price rises of 1.1%, 1% and 0.7%, respectively. Regions showing more settled prices include Catalonia, Madrid and the Canary Islands, which all continued the positive growth they began to see in 2016, with first quarter increases of 6.8%, 5.4% and 3.6%, respectively. Although the Balearic Islands recorded a 2.4% year-on-year increase, Q2 growth was more moderate than in the previous quarter.
Provinces
The new data shows price increases in 30 of the country’s provinces, led by La Rioja and Albacete which both recorded a 7.4% increase, when compared to the same period in the previous year. Following close behind was Barcelona where prices increased 6.9%, Malaga (5.5%), Madrid (5.4%), and Girona with a 5.3% increase.
At the other end of the scale with annual declines in prices were Teruel where prices fell by 6.2%, along with Huesca (-5.5%) and Zaragoza (-4.8%).
When looking at the first six months of 2016 the provinces with the largest cumulative price rises are Almería, Burgos and Cuenca which recorded increases of 6.1%, 5.9% and 5.2%, respectively. The provinces of Cantabria, Huesca, Avila and Zaragoza recorded price falls from January to June with falls of 6.1%, 4.4%, 4.2% and 3.7% respectively.
Despite a national average decline of 40.9% since pre-crisis prices, the provinces of Toledo, Zaragoza and Guadalajara have the largest cumulative falls with prices down by 56.5%, 54.2%, and 54%, respectively. Tarragona, Avila and Valencia have also recorded cumulative falls above 50%.
Conversely, the provinces with the lowest cumulative falls are Caceres (-23.6%), Teruel (27.9%) and the Balearic Islands (29.7%).
Capitals
Until this quarter, it was mostly the main tourist areas which had recorded the best growth with Madrid, Barcelona, Malaga and Mallorca all showing growth from quarter to quarter. There are now many more capitals recording growth in housing prices including San Sebastian with a 10.2% increase, Cádiz (9.4%) and Bilbao (7.2%). Barcelona and Madrid recorded price rises in Q2 of 6.4% and 5.1% respectively. Other capitals to record growth above 3% include Palencia, Malaga, Cuenca, Santa Cruz de Tenerife and Girona.
Despite the national growth there are some capitals which recorded prices substantially lower than in the same period in the previous year. These include Pamplona (-7%), Zamora (-6.4%), Vigo (-5.7%) and Murcia (-5.2%). 12 other capitals also showed negative growth when compared to the second quarter of 2015.
The largest property price increase across the first two quarters of 2016 was recorded in Bilbao where prices have risen 12% so far this year. This was followed by Castellón with a 7.1% increase, Palencia with price rise of 6.5% and San Sebastián where housing prices increase 5.5%.
In contrast, there were a few cities to record negative growth during the first six months of the year. They include Santander (-5.8%), Vigo (-4.5%) and Pontevedra (-4.1 %).
