Thursday, October 16, 2008

Second-hand housing market in Spain

The price of second hand housing has gone down by 13.8% since last year
According to a report by Tecnocasa in collaboration with the University of Pompeu Fabra the price of second hand housing went down by 13.8% between June 2007 and June 2008.

Out of all the areas included in the study the four most expensive in terms of price per square metre (m2)in the first quarter of 2008 were: Barcelona (3,769 euros), L'Hospitalet de Llobregat (3,548 euros), Madrid (3,470 euros) and Bilbao (3,190 euros). According to Tecnocasa, the cost of second hand housing is more expensive in smaller flats than in larger ones.

The profile of an average flat in Spain was found to be 65.53 m2 with 2 or three bedrooms on the third floor in a building which was 40 years old.

The smallest flats in the study were found to be in L'Hospitalet de Llobregat (59.36 m2), while larger flats were found to be in Malaga with over 77 m2.

With regards to the age of buildings the oldest ones were in Barcelona and Bilbao, 48.72 and 46.80 years old respectively – both cities were found to have the oldest houses and flats on the property market which was probably a consequence of the fact that the impact of new construction has been far less in these two cities compared to other places included in the study.

The report also showed that the average time it takes to sell a flat has gone up by 15 days from 120 days in the first quarter of 2007 to 135 for the same period in 2008.

L'Hospitalet de Llobregat was found to be the area where less days were needed to sell a flat (86 days). On the other hand in Málaga and Sevilla the average length of time it took to sell a flat was found to be 160 days. In Madrid and Barcelona it was found to take 149 and 102 days respectively.

The profile of the average buyer is a person between 25 and 35 years old with a permanent job, single with Spanish nationality with a monthly net income of less than 1,500 euros who acquires a property with another person.

The average mortgage conceded was 167.404 euros over a 40 year period which represents 79.99% of the value of a property. This means that the average mortgage has gone down by 9.82% since the same quarter in 2007 when the average mortgage was 185.642 euros. Areas where larger mortgages were conceded were Barcelona (228,241 euros), Madrid (198,117 euros) and L'Hospitalet de Llobregat (195,568 euros). On the other hand the lowest average mortgages were conceded in Huelva (120,256 euros).

The report also found that the number of people with Spanish nationality who applied for a mortgage has gone up by 14.49 points over the last year which means that 87.50% of people who applied for a mortgage for second hand housing are of Spanish nationality. In contrast during the first quarter of 2008 only 12.5% of mortgages were taken out by foreigners compared to 36.63% a year ago.
posted by Euroresidentes at 11:09:00 AM

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