Spain’s housing market still in trouble

House prices in Spain continue to trend downwards. In August prices were down 4.53% on the year, and down 1.63% on the quarter, according to TINSA, a real estate valuation company.

This comes after some optimism in Q2, when Spain’s house prices seemed to stabilize. The official house price index from the Instituto Nacional de Estadistica (INE) showed an increase of 1.6% over the three months to June 2010; and a fall of only 0.90% from a year earlier - the first quarterly increase since the onset of the crisis in late 2007.  INE’s data are based on transaction prices provided by the General Council of Spanish Notary Publics.  The Bank of Spain data also suggested that appraised value of houses stood at €1,849 per sq. m. in Q2 2010; only 0.91% lower than the value in the previous quarter and down by 3.75% from a year ago.  During the height of the housing crisis, many had expressed doubt on the accuracy of statistics produced by government offices. The figures were, allegedly, too optimistic.