Independent and accurate property prices in Spain

The hockey-stick effect is still very much in evidence in TINSA's latest report on Spanish house prices. But wait, there's a catch.

You can download the latest TINSa report (pdf format) on Spanish house prices by clicking on either of the graphs below.

The first of TINSA's graphs makes for a very encouraging looking trend line - until you remember that they've plotted the percentage change in house prices on an annual basis. Unfortunately, in a rapidly changing market, this comparison is all but meaningless.

All you can conclude from this first graph is that the decrease in house prices in Spain is slowing. To find out the true picture, you need to refer to the second of TINSA's graphs which plots the actual value of their index over time.

As you can see from this graph, Spanish property prices are still declining - although at a much slower pace than has been the case since the turning point in 2007.

House prices in Spain, according to TINSa, are now at the same level as they were in 2005. According to the charts, that represents a 14% decrease from their peak in 2007.

While I agree with the overall trends that TINSA produces, we have to remember that their index is based on their own estimates - not actual sales prices.

While their estimating methodology may be consistently applied over the years and based on sound principles, that bears little relation to what actually happens in a boom to bust market cycle.

Still, better this data than the garbage that the Spanish government continues to produce.

Martin Dell, Kyero.com

Winner of the 2008 & 2007 CNBC award for Best Property Portal Spain and 2007 Best International Property Portal, Kyero.com is the leading web site connecting buyers and sellers of Spanish property. Featuring 100,000 properties from 1,500 estate agents, Kyero.com is privately owned and based in southern Spain.

Kyero.com was the first dedicated Spanish property portal to join the Association of International Property Professionals (AIPP), a consumer association setting standards and protecting buyers of overseas property.

Each quarter Kyero.com collates pricing information from thousands of properties to produce the Spanish House Price Index