Sales figures for Balearics at same level as previous year
Düsseldorf, 20.02.2013
With 280,816 registered sales transactions (excluding social housing), the downturn in the Spanish real estate market continued in 2012. As reported by the Spanish Statistical Office, INE, there was a decline of around 10% compared with the previous year. Looking at how sales figures have developed over the last five years, we see that in 2012 this once thriving industry had dwindled to about one-quarter of its market volume in 2007 – the final boom year before the real estate crisis erupted in 2008.
Source: INE 2013; chart: www.portamondial.com
The situation varied in the individual Spanish provinces.
While notaries in Cantabria and the Basque Country recorded falls of 27% and 25% respectively in sales transactions compared with 2011, the Balearics and Castile-La Mancha were able to maintain last year’s levels, while sales transactions in the Canary Islands registered only a minor downturn of -3%.
This is something that the Porta Mallorquina and Porta Tenerife Porta Mondial franchise partners can confirm for their sales regions:
“The holiday real estate market and the classic residential market are governed by different rules,”
says Jessica Jaeger, Managing Director of Porta Mallorquina Real Estate S.L., explaining the situation in Majorca.
Source: INE 2013; chart: www.portamondial.com
“The whole of Europe is currently on the hunt for sound investments. Properties in good locations in Majorca have held their value even during the crisis years. There is hardly anywhere better to invest than here.”
In Tenerife, Jaeger’s colleague Eckhard Bernstorff from Porta Tenerife had to contend with bigger price fluctuations. In the meantime, however, he believes the market has bottomed out.
“In terms of value for money, property in the Canary Islands is one of the best investments you can make at the moment,”
the real estate expert says.
Q4 2012 well below 2011 figures
The market was essentially stable in 2012 but the last quarter destroyed hopes for the recovery of the Spanish market as a whole, with October and November figures showing a significant year-on-year fall. Although the gap was closed again in December, the last month of 2011 was also one of the worst for the overall year. The weakest month in 2012 was August, but sales traditionally tend to be poor during this holiday month.
2013 gets off to positive start
The experts have meanwhile become cautious about making forecasts. They can still all too clearly remember 2010, when it was believed that the crisis was already over. In the Balearics and Canaries, in any event, the Porta Mondial partners have registered a renewed increase in demand during the first six weeks, and sales figures for 2013 are also currently up on the previous year.
Source: INE 2013; chart: www.portamondial.com