Madrid – most expensive second-hand housing
The price of second-hand housing in Spain saw a fall of 1.5% during the third quarter of 2020, and a 2.4% fall year-on-year in September. This places the average cost per square metre at 1,845 euros, according to new figures from fotocasa. This is the first third-quarter fall for three years following increases of 4.8% in 2017, 7.8% in 2018 and 2.3% in 2019.
“During the first few months of the covid pandemic, sellers were not lowering prices due to the coronavirus and what price variations we saw were a natural trend expected for 2020. In the month of September it seems that the pandemic has begun to have more of an impact on prices and we are now seeing more generalized and somewhat larger falls. In fact, this third quarter breaks with the upward trend in prices that had been seen during the last three years“, explains Anaïs López, Communication Director of Fotocasa.
Autonomous Communities
Monthly falls in the price of second-hand homes for sale were seen in fourteen Autonomous Communities. Thirteen communities saw quarterly falls, and seven saw year-on-year falls.
The Autonomous Community with the greatest quarterly decrease was Castilla-La Mancha with -3.8%. They are followed by Aragon (-3.7%), Castilla y León (-2.6%), La Rioja (-2.2%), Catalonia (-1.9%), Andalusia (-1.3%), Region of Murcia (-1.3%), Galicia (-1.3%), Asturias (-1%), Extremadura (-0.9%), the Canary Islands (-0.8%), Valencia (- 0.7%) and Navarra (-0.03%). However, average second-hand house prices in the Basque Country (1.5%), the Balearic Islands (1.1%), Cantabria (1%) and Madrid (0.2%) are higher in September than three months ago (June 2020).
Anaïs López added that “we foresee that during the last months of 2020 we will see decreases in line with what we have been seeing in recent months and we will even have slightly more pronounced decreases, between -3 and -5% at the national level. However, many homeowners are still going to resist lowering prices and it is possible that we will see more pronounced declines from 2021.”
Regarding the ranking of prices by communities, Madrid, which occupies the first place, is the only one that exceeds the barrier of 3,000 euros, specifically about 3,056 euros per square meter. It is followed by the communities of the Basque Country (2,881 euros p/m²), the Balearic Islands (2,794 euros p/m²) and Catalonia (2,423 euros p/m²). On the other hand, second-hand house prices per square meter in 13 autonomous communities do not exceed 2,000 euros. They are: the Canary Islands (1,761 euros p/m²), Cantabria (1,734 euros p/m²), Navarra (1,721 euros p/m²), Andalusia ( 1,628 euros p/m²), Asturias (1,566 euros p/m²), Galicia (1,554 euros p/m²), Aragon (1,518 euros p/m²), Valencian Community (1,408 euros p/m²), Castilla y León (1,402 euros p/m²), La Rioja (1,387 euros p/m²), Region of Murcia (1,152 euros p/m²), Extremadura (1,105 euros p/m²) and Castilla-La Mancha (1,096 euros p/m²).
Provinces
Across the provinces the price of housing is presented with 44 monthly decreases, 38 quarterly and 20 interannual decreases. In the third quarter of 2020, the quarterly decreases range from -0.004% in Santa Cruz de Tenerife to -5.1% in Zaragoza and Teruel. On the other hand, the province with the highest increase is Huesca, which has seen second-hand house prices increase by 5.9% in September, when compared to June 2020.
Regarding the ranking of prices for second-hand housing by province, Gipuzkoa and Madrid are the only ones that exceed the 3,000 euro barrier, specifically 3,142 euros in Gipuzkoa and 3,056 euros per square meter for Madrid. Only five provinces place the price of housing between 2,000 and 3,000 euros p/m²: Barcelona with 2,951 euros p/m², Bizkaia with 2,857 euros p/m², the Balearic Islands 2,794 euros p/m², Araba – Álava with 2,402 euros p/m² and Malaga with 2,238 euros p/m². On the other hand, the two provinces that do not exceed 1,000 euros are Toledo and Ciudad Real with 955 euros p/m² and 972 euros p/m², each.
