Spain’s real estate market recovery has experts divided
Spain’s real estate market has finally recovered from the crisis this year and, while market experts agree on future growth estimates, the jury is still out on how this will shape the market in 2016.
Property prices in Spain could grow 6.0% and transactions on houses and flats could increase by 14.5% according to the October report “Residential Market in Spain” by Servihabitat, a Spanish real estate agency, in conjunction with the Institute of Business Practice (Instituto de Práctica Empresarial). Furthermore, their analysts forecast "a normalization process in the Spanish residential market" based on this year’s market indicators.
The Spanish market is really recovering:
pre-crisis construction projects are unfreezing and older new builds that never found a buyer are now selling gradually. This is mainly down to the country’s affordable loans and improvements on the labour market.
Market recovery confirmed
The number of transactions is on the rise in Spain. With 26.6% more sales in 2015 than last year, the total number of transactions will amount to 403,000 according to Servihabitat. This increase is particularly associated with rising transactions on the secondary market as
Nevertheless, even if
If anything, British buyers returning to Spain’s property market is a good indication that things are picking up. Sales to British citizens grew 33% in 2014 and they made 35% more purchases during the first quarter of 2015 than the same period in 2014.
Opinions divided
Real estate companies do not agree on 2016 estimates and their forecasts vary from moderate optimism and determined confidence in strong growth.
In terms of price growth, Standard & Poor’s (S&P), a financial group, and commercial bank Bankinter are advocating for moderate optimism, forecasting 2.5% and 2.0% price growth in 2015 respectively. Servihabitat, on the other hand, plans for a 6.3% rise
Growth forecasts 2015/16
Company | forecasts, % |
Number of transactions, thousands |
|||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2015 | 2016 | |
Servihabitat | 2.6 | 6,3 | n/a | 403 | 462 |
Bankinter | 2.0 | 4.0 | n/a | 380 | 420 |
S&P | 2.5 | 2.5 | 4.0 | n/a | n/a |
Colegio de Registradores de España |
2.8 | 5.0 | n/a | n/a | n/a |
Sources: Servihabitat, S&P, Bankinter, Colegio de Registradores de España
As a result, while market players are unanimous regarding Spain’s recovery, there is no consensus on further developments, which are largely dependent on the country’s general economic health.
Less debt, more loans
The 2015 real estate market in Spain is characterised by higher demand, driven by healthier economic parameters. Unemployment, though still abnormally high, has fallen from 26.1% in 2013 to 22.2% in 2015. BNP Paribas, an international bank, forecasts that it will reach 19.3% by 2017.
Concurrently, lending volumes have substantially increased: 11.1% more mortgages were granted in Q2 2015 compared with the same period in 2014 according to Spain’s Colegio de Registradores, the national property registration body
Positive forecasts may come from an improvement in homeowner debt to GDP ratio. Mortgage debt has dropped to 68.6% of the country’s GDP in 2015 from 104.9% in 2010, meaning that citizens are finally catching up on credit accumulated before the crisis.
Finally, Spain’s GDP grew for the first time in 2014 since the 2008 crisis and is projected to reach 3.0% this year (although research by the Oxford Economics think tank says it will be readjusted to 2.6%).
What to expect
The real estate community is only partially unanimous: the consensus is on growth and recovery, supported by positive macroeconomic indicators, but expert opinions diverge on how strong and consistent this growth will be, making upcoming H2 2015 results all the more important in establishing accurate forecasts. In the meantime, expect the following trends on the Spanish real estate market in the near future:
- another
2–3 years growth for the real estate - market hotspots to maintain strongest growth: Madrid, Canary Islands, Andalusia, Catalonia and Valencia
- Tenerife to become top property destination
- market recovery to keep pace with general EU trends
record-low interest rates in the EU will continue to encourage lending
Ivan Chepizhko, Tranio
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