Housing costs increased 2.4% in Q1
The price of housing in Spain increased in the first quarter of the year by 2.4% year-on-year, to stand at 1,492.4 euros per m², according to data released by the Ministry of Public Works.
Despite the increase, in real terms (after inflation) housing in Spain is still 34.4% below the peak prices reached pre-crisis in the first quarter of 2008.
When comparing prices to the previous quarter the increase is only 0.2%. Despite this, housing prices have now risen for six consecutive quarters.
When looking at the figures by autonomous community 12 registered annual growth with the Balearic Islands topping the list with a 9.6% increase. They were followed by Catalonia (4.9%), Madrid (4.2%), Valencia (2.4%) and the Canary Islands with a 2.4% increase in the cost per square metre.
There were five communities which saw negative growth with La Rioja seeing prices fall by 2.2%, while in the Basque Country prices fell by 1.9%.
Housing by Age
The average value per square metre of private housing up to five years old finished the quarter at 1,727.8 euros, representing annual growth of 0.2%.
For private housing over five years old the price reached 1,486.4 euros per square metre, representing an annual increase of 2.6%.
When looking at municipalities with more than 25,000 inhabitants the highest price of private housing was seen in San Sebastian in the North of Spain where a square metre will cost 2,993.9 euros. This is followed by Ibiza where you will see a price per square metre of 2,620.4 euros. In Barcelona the cost has risen to 2,594.5 euros with Madrid following close behind with a cost of 2,533.6 euros.
Meanwhile, the lowest costs can be found in Elda where a square metre of housing will cost you a mere 508.9 euros.
Building Licences
The property market is definitely continuing to recover in Spain as highlighted by the increase in property prices.
Another pointer is the number of new building licences approved. In April there were 6,176 permits granted which is double the amount approved in the same month last year when only 3,064 were granted.
In the first quarter of 2016 there were 16,782 licence approvals. This is a huge increase and is almost half of all the permits granted in the whole of 2013 (34,288), the worst year on record.
When looking at the number by type of property the majority were for blocks of apartments, with 4,520 permits approved. This represents a massive 130% increase over the same period in the previous year. There were also 1,656 permits granted for building individual houses, a 53% increase over last year.
It is easy to see that construction is back in Spain with the return of cranes to the horizon but these figures confirm our suspicions.
