Has anybody got any facts and figures about the state of the housing market in Bulgaria. I would like to know if it is better or worse than Spain

Spain property prices fall at a slower pace

Thursday 12th July 2012

This is proving to be the worst year for the Spanish property market since the crash started in 2007, which I terrible news for vendors and good news for bargain hunters.

But on a brighter note for the market, the rate residential property prices in the country fell slowed during last month, according to the latest figures released by IMIE General Index, Tinsa, which revealed that the average price of a home in Spain depreciated by 10.8% year-on-year in June, an improvement on the 11.1% annual fall recorded in May.

The greatest property bargains can potentially be secured along the Mediterranean coast, where average values have dropped by 13.3% year-on-year. The markets in the Balearic and Canary Islands are performing better, with values dropping 6.8% last month compared to June 2011.

But despite the reduction in property prices, homes sales are falling across most parts of Spain, which suggests that values will simply drop further.

“Year to date, there were 120,418 home sales in the first five months, 22% lower than the same period last year and 64% lower than 2007,” said Spanish property commentator Mark Stucklin. “Clearly, this is the worst year yet.”

willowsend wrote:

Has anybody got any facts and figures about the state of the housing market in Bulgaria. I would like to know if it is better or worse than Spain

Spain property prices fall at a slower pace

Thursday 12th July 2012

This is proving to be the worst year for the Spanish property market since the crash started in 2007, which I terrible news for vendors and good news for bargain hunters.

But on a brighter note for the market, the rate residential property prices in the country fell slowed during last month, according to the latest figures released by IMIE General Index, Tinsa, which revealed that the average price of a home in Spain depreciated by 10.8% year-on-year in June, an improvement on the 11.1% annual fall recorded in May.

The greatest property bargains can potentially be secured along the Mediterranean coast, where average values have dropped by 13.3% year-on-year. The markets in the Balearic and Canary Islands are performing better, with values dropping 6.8% last month compared to June 2011.

But despite the reduction in property prices, homes sales are falling across most parts of Spain, which suggests that values will simply drop further.

“Year to date, there were 120,418 home sales in the first five months, 22% lower than the same period last year and 64% lower than 2007,” said Spanish property commentator Mark Stucklin. “Clearly, this is the worst year yet.”

Property prices have dropped in Spain we are told, but if you look on the Internet you would never believe that a recession has taken place over there. Prices are still high, but I am sure that if you went to Spain and stayed there for a while and made enquiries you would find the true prices, not those that have been manipulated on the Internet.

i spent 2 months in spain looking at properties, in 2006 the average price was 160 thousand euros for a 2 bed apartment or a flat, houses were few. we were put off by the fact that apartments were sold in blocks meaning if not all were sold the bank would repossess as we have seen first hand.
i have been back to spain 6 weeks in the last 8 months and property has drastically reduced in price, des res properties have seen a million drop in price. its global, bulgaria, spain, the uk, the recession is global no doubt about that, in time things will improve, but not yet.

House prices are too high, relative to earnings, meaning they are out of reach for people starting on the ladder. This ought, in normal market terms, bring prices down, and a fall of about 30% would create a healthy restart to the market.

However, this is not happening, and there are many factors at play, one of which is a shortage of housing stock that is in reasonable condition.

The rental market is also interesting, for instance in the North East, the rental market is brisk. I mean on fire, brisk. If you hesitate for half a day, your chosen property will have gone.

Yet much of the property on the market is substandard, and over priced, and lingers.

I think the behavior of estate agents is, in part, spoiling the market. They are advising sellers wrongly on the likely transaction price. They are sloppy and inept and actually proactively selling. This provides a break on transactions completing.

But everything in the market says prices should fall even more and that includes Spain.