The number of property sales in Spain increased in the third
quarter of 2011, according to the latest reports.
Unlucky number 14
The Housing Price Index, published by the National
Statistics Insitute, has shown that prices are still declining in Spain, but
the appeal of cheap property abroad is still attracting foreign investors, with
transactions up by 24.7 per in the most recent quarter.
House prices have continually been dropping across the
Spanish market, reports Kyero, with values dipping for fourteen quarters in a
row when compared to figures for the year before. These year-on-year declines
have left agents no option but to keep lowering prices in an attempt to sell
off the country’s oversupply of housing stock.
Good news for 2012?
Spain looks set to continue this trend until the end of
December, say some experts, as the limited reduction in property tax comes to
an end at the start of 2012.
Marc Pritchard Sales and Marketing Director of Spanish
homebuilder Taylor Wimpey España, comments,
“The increase in property sales to foreigners in the
last quarter of 2011 shows that many buyers have been discerning enough to
strike while the iron is hot and purchase properties that are well priced and
in excellent locations. With this in mind, the Holiday Lettings’ Insight Report
for 2011 identified that there was a 3% increase in the number of enquires about
buying Spanish property between January and October this year compared to the
same period in 2010 while the report also discovered that people looking for
holiday let opportunities in Spain was the second most-enquired about
destination among buy-to-let investors, after the UK, between January and
October 2011.
Pritchard continues,
“Indeed, it is looking likely that prices in Spain will
begin to increase by the end of 2011 with places like Tenerife and Malaga
seeing property values improve signalling good news for the Spanish real estate
market next year.”
