Spanish house price rises highest in Europe
November 1st, 2004
Last month, Spain was singled out in the European Central Bank’s monthly bulletin as having the biggest residential property inflation in the euro area, with the country’s housing prices increasing at a rate nearly two-and-a-half times the euro-wide average in 2003.
The ECB estimates the average increase in residential property prices across the euro area in 2003 was 7.2 per cent, saying that this is the fourth consecutive year with increases of around 6-7 per cent and that growth rates “are currently close to their highest point since the early 1990s.”
Between 1999 and 2003, housing prices increased at arate 4 to 5 percentage points higher than the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices, says the report.
In the case of Spain, housing prices jumped 17.3 per cent in 2003, the largest increase in the euro area and some 2.4 times the euro-wide average. The country also tops the list for the rate of increase over the five-year period from 1999 to 2003.
“Spain, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Greece experienced substantial and above euro area average increases” during that period, according to the ECB. The data for 2003 indicates price increases slowed down in the Netherlands, Greece and Ireland. “However, in Spain, residential property prices accelerated further in 2003:’ says the report, which goes on to state that “the latest available quarterly data for 2004 confirm the strong increases” in Spain.
Read the full monthly bulletin from the European Central Bank
