Real estate prices in Spain began their growth after a “pause”

Prices for secondary real estate in Spain have begun their rise: in April 2020, the cost of objects on the secondary market increased by 0.5% compared to March 2020. According to National Institute of Statistics (INE), the average cost per m² in the country is 1854 euros.

Since the beginning of 2020, there has been a tendency to contain the active price growth that has been observed over the last two years. It was expected that the situation with COVID-19 and Estado de Alarma would aggravate the situation and there would be a sharp decline in market performance. However, owners are not discounting their homes, which has essentially held the situation in check and even allowed prices to show a slight increase.

For illustrative purposes, indicators of autonomous communities and provinces (based on INE data)

The kingdom’s nine autonomous communities have presented negative monthly figures for April 2020. Community

m with the largest price decreases: Castilla-La Mancha (-3%), Balearic Islands (-2.4%), Andalusia (-1.7%), La Rioja (-1.4%), Galicia (-1.2%), Murcia (-1.1%), Canary Islands (-0.5%), Cantabria (-0.4%) and Extremadura (-0.3%).

On the other hand, monthly increases in rates occurred in eight communities, namely: Catalonia (2.8%), Aragon (1.4%), Valencia (1.4%), Asturias (0.8%), Madrid (0.7%), Navarra (0.5%), Basque Country (0.3%), Castile and León (0.1%).

In 26 of the 50 provinces, the real estate market showed growth in April 2020. The top ten rankings include Barcelona (3.6%), Cuenca (2.9%), Alicante (2%), Zaragoza (1.9%), Leon (1.7%), Jaén (1.7%), Ávila (1.7%), Las Palmas (1.5%), Teruel (1.2%) and

Alava (1.2%).

The provinces with the largest decreases are Albacete (-5.2%), La Coruña (-2.6%) and Balearic Islands (-2.4%).

Housing prices in capital cities (according to INE)

In 26 of the 50 provincial capitals with monthly fluctuations, the price still decreased in April compared to the previous month. The ten largest decreases were Albacete (-2.4%), Huesca (-2%), Murcia (-1.7%), Santa Cruz de Tenerife (-1.7%), Tarragona (-1.5%), La Coruña (-1.2%), Girona (-1.1%), Córdoba (-1.1%), Salamanca (-1.1%) and Granada (-1%).

The three provincial capitals with the largest increases are Teruel (3.7%), Alicante (3.6%) and Ourense (2.6%).

The most expensive provincial capital remains Donostia (San Sebastian) with a cost of 5402 euro/m². Then come Barcelona (4635 euro/m²), Madrid (3959 euro/m²), Bilbao (3318 euro/m²), Palma de Mallorca (3004 euro/m²), Vitoria-Gasteiz (2565 euro/m²), Cadiz (2487 euro/m²), Pamplona and Irun (both at 2420 euro/m²).

It’s hard to argue with statistics – it’s wise to take these numbers at face value.