On analysing the housing stock, the director of services at the Estudios de Tinsa, Jorge Ripoll, has indicated that “although all the provinces have reduced their oversupply in the last twelve months, take up speed has been uneven as related to location”.
After the contraction of the market in the last few years, gradual recovery in demand is causing a selective and specific reactivation in house building in certain locations and in certain types, either because of depletion of the finished product, or because existing supply does not satisfy the needs of the effective demand.
According to Tinsa, there are currently in Spain 63,100 houses under construction. 15,900 of them are concentrated in the Community of Madrid, far from the provinces of Alicante, where a further 5,500 are located, and Barcelona, where l4,500 houses are being built.
Currently, in Spain, there is also ‘suelo finalista’ (where urban management has been completed and urbanisation work finalised) for 1.6 million dwellings. This stock, which has a heterogeneous distribution, has an average period for take up of 8.6 years
More optimistic predictions for future prices
Tinsa’s expectations for stock prices are more optimistic than those envisaged a year ago. Tinsa’s experts expect that values will rise sharply (more than 5%) in 9% of the existing supply, whilst in 2015 a less significant revaluation was expected in just 2%. The metropolitan areas of Madrid and Barcelona, the Pays Basques, and the coastal areas of Alicante, Málaga and Cádiz have the best predictions. The appraisers’ report expects that the value will improve in 40.4% of the product as stock. The more extended prediction (44.7%)is that prices will remain stable.