The price of free housing in Spain has registered a quarterly increase of 1.3% to 1,900 euros per square metre. The market thus reached its highest level since the first quarter of 2010 with a value of 1,865.7 euros per square metre, according to data provided by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Agenda.
By autonomous communities, eleven of them exceeded the national average increase in the year-on-year rate. The Balearic Islands led with an increase of 8.3%, raising the value of land to 3,034.3 euros per square metre. It was followed by Cantabria with an increase of 7.2%, reaching 1,612.2 euros, and the Canary Islands, with a rise of 7.1%, to 1,789.1 euros. Despite these increases, the highest land prices were observed in the Community of Madrid, with 3,116.7 euros per square metre, representing a rise of 4.6%. For its part, Extremadura presented the lowest year-on-year increase, with a rise of 0.9%, placing the price of land at 888.3 euros, the lowest among all the communities.
At the provincial level, Teruel experienced the largest increase with 10.1%, followed by Santa Cruz de Tenerife with 9.1% and Malaga with 8.1%. In contrast, Ourense recorded a contraction of 2.5%, and both Palencia and Salamanca and Cáceres saw falls of 1%, while Jaén saw a decrease of 0.1%.
In terms of vacant homes up to five years old, the average value per square metre stood at 2,199.3 euros up to March, reflecting an increase of 4.1 per cent compared to the same period last year. For homes over five years old, the increase was even higher, at 4.4% year-on-year, reaching 1,855.8 euros per square metre.
In Spanish municipalities with more than 25,000 inhabitants, Santa Eulalia del Río, in the Balearic Islands, recorded the highest price at 5,194.7 euros, while the cheapest was Puertollano in Ciudad Real, at 607.1 euros.
With regard to protected housing, the average price per square metre in the first quarter of the year was 1,167.6 euros, representing a slight increase of 0.3% compared to the same period last year.
Finally, the number of property appraisals used to calculate these prices up to March reached 154,755 homes.