Independent and accurate property prices in Spain
May 27th, 2009
According to the latest house price analysis from Knight Frank, the Spanish property market isn't faring too badly compared to some other countries.
Just focusing on countries which have experienced a year-on-year decline in house values, Spain is far from the worse affected.
At the bottom of the chart are Dubai and Latvia, both with whopping 30+ percent annual decreases in house prices.
Faring worse than Spain are Norway, Ireland, Denmark, Poland, Hong Kong, Estonia, UK, United States, Singapore, Dubai and Latvia with annual decreases between 9% and 36%.
Spain's modest loss of almost 7% is nothing to shout about - except that, looking at some of its neighbours - it could be a lot worse.
Even though the Knight Frank report sees little reason to be cheerful, countries such as Israel and the Czech Republic actually managed a 10% increase in house prices comparing Q1 2009 with Q1 2008.
The bad news for Brits wanting to buy property in Spain is that over the last 12 months, UK house prices have slumped 10% more in the UK than in Spain. To make matters worse, Sterling is now worth 16% less in Euros than it was at the start of 2008.
A year ago, selling a UK home for £200,000 to buy a property in Spain would have yielded approximately €270,000 of buying power in Spain. Today, that same home would sell for 16% less - £168,000 - and translate to just €190,000.
However, due to the fact that Spanish property also reduced by 6% in value over the same period, that €190,000 would have a purchasing power of €201,000 when compared to 2008. Even so, that represents a drop in real terms of €70,000 or approximately 26% in just 12 months.
Knight Frank Global House Price Index, Quarter 1 2009
| Country | Year on year (% change) |
| South Africa | -0.3% |
| Sweden | -0.6% |
| Finland | -0.7% |
| Thailand | -1.0% |
| Philippines | -1.0% |
| Germany | -1.5% |
| Greece | -1.5% |
| Cyprus | -2.2% |
| Ukraine | -2.3% |
| Canada | -2.4% |
| Luxembourg | -2.4% |
| Slovenia | -3.1% |
| China | -3.9% |
| New Zealand | -4.0% |
| Croatia | -4.5% |
| Malta | -5.6% |
| France | -5.7% |
| Portugal | -5.9% |
| Australia | -6.7% |
| Spain | -6.8% |
| Norway | -9.4% |
| Ireland | -10.0% |
| Denmark | -11.6% |
| Poland | -13.0% |
| Hong Kong | -15.7% |
| Estonia | -16.2% |
| UK | -16.5% |
| United States | -16.9% |
| Singapore | -23.8% |
| Dubai | -32.0% |
| Latvia | -36.0% |
Data from Knight Frank
Post Mortem: Mark Stucklin reminds us that the Knight Frank report is based on official government figures. In the case of Spain, we know that these are woefully optimistic and inaccurate.
Download the latest Spanish House Price Index. It's updated and published quarterly to evaluate the advertised prices of 100,000 Spanish properties. |
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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
