A sign of things to come? January's home value increase is expected to continue throughout the year.

A sign of things to come? January’s home value increase is expected to continue throughout the year.

Statistics published this week by Spanish property valuation firm Tinsa show that the average home in Spain was worth 3.6% more at the end of January than it was at the same point in 2017…

Having experienced an increase of between 5-6% in 2017 (depending on which metric one believes), the signs are already strong that 2018 is shaping up to be just as positive a year for Spanish property as the previous 12 months.

The Tinsa data highlighted both the national average increase – that 3.6% figure – as well as regional variances. It found that property prices rose by more than 5% in Spain’s larger cities and provincial capitals in January, and around 4.1% on the Canary and Balearic islands.

For many parts of the Mediterranean coast, the average price increase was 3%, which is actually below the national average but reflective of the fact that demand for coastal properties is typically at its lowest during the winter months. Tinsa expects Mediterranean home values to increase above the national average as the days lengthen and the mercury rises.

Interestingly, while the Tinsa data does not reveal the typical, average house selling price in Spain for January, it does say that home values are now back to where they were in June 2013, which was a time of recession in Spain marked by a series of price corrections.

The movement then was downwards; today it is upwards, but sustainably so, with home sales increasing at an encouraging 11 – 15% over the past few years, and mortgage loan amounts rising steadily.