09/03/2014
Spain’s central statistics unit has published its final figures related to property prices for 2013, showing that on average during the year house prices across the country fell by 7.8%, and the results for the Comunitat Valenciana were slightly better than the average with a fall of just 6.4% being recorded.
In the last quarter alone prices in the Comunitat Valenciana fell by 2.5%, with a vast disparity between new-builds (5.4%) and second-hand properties (1.6%), although in the country as a whole these two categories showed very similar tendencies.
Across the country this is the sixth year in a row that Spanish residential property prices have fallen, and many were hoping to see a significant improvement in the fourth quarter of 2013. In fact, between September 30th and December 31st prices fell by a further 1.7%, reversing the upward trend of the third quarter.
One point which will interest the optimists, amid all this doom and gloom: most of the fall in house prices during 2013 in Spain as a whole was in the first quarter, when prices fell by an average of 6.6% in just three months. If the first three months of 2014 are indeed as positive as reported by many estate agents, there is a chance that by the time the next quarterly statistics are produced prices could be showing stability or even an upward trend.
No-one should hold their breath, but if the average price in the whole of Spain were to rise by just 1.4% between 1st and January and 31st March this year, then stability over the last twelve months would have been achieved.
The situation in Valencia is slightly different, where an increase of 2.5% would be required for this to be achieved, however, different areas of Valencia are experiencing different trends: Alicante was the best performing province in all of Spain for property sales in 2013, in a year where property sales actually fell in Spain as compared to 2012.
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