Further Spanish property price reductions | Armonk Real Estate

It remains a buyer’s market in Spain, as desperate vendors continue to slash asking prices in a bid to attract more homebuyers, according to the latest data from property portal idealista.

The figures reveal that over half – 54% – of existing vendors reduced their asking prices by an average of 12% in May compared to the same month last year.

The reduction in property asking prices is pretty much in line with the latest property price index from the National Institute of Statistics (INE), which shows that average Spanish house prices fell 12.6% in Q1 compared to corresponding month last year, with the greatest decline – 13.3% recorded in the resale market.

The latest INE index represents the greatest year-on-year fall in prices since the housing crisis started, with the biggest declines of almost 15% in regions like the Balearics and Catalonia.

Despite the recession in Spain and the dire state of the country’s property market, there is mounting evidence to suggest that more international homebuyers are looking to take advantage of cheaper property prices.

Over 3.2m searches were conducted on Rightmove Overseas in May, with Spain accounting for a quarter of all searches on the website. Traditional locations, such as Costa del Sol and Costa Blanca, are the main areas of interest.