Housing prices in Spain rose 4.5% in the third quarter compared with the same period in 2022, driven by new construction activity, according to the Housing Price Index (IPV) published by the National Institute of Statistics (INE) on Tuesday. The year-over-year rise marks the strongest increase in 16 years.
Price growth for free-market housing is gathering momentum as the quarterly recovery strengthens. In the third quarter, prices posted a 0.9% quarterly gain and rose 38 quarters on an annual basis, signaling a sustained upturn in market activity.
Statistics show that new housing prices climbed by 11% year over year in the third quarter, and they advanced by 3.3 percentage points from the prior quarter, the largest quarterly lift in 16 years.
Second-hand (resale) house prices increased by 3.2% in the third quarter compared with the same period in 2022, with the quarterly rate edging up by three-tenths versus the second quarter and marking the highest pace since late 2022.
Navarra Leads Annual Increases
Across all regions, third-quarter annual rates remained positive. Navarra registered the strongest annual gain among autonomous communities, with a 7.6% rise from the third quarter of 2022 to the current period, placing it at the top of the national table [INE].
The Canary Islands followed with a 6.6% increase, while Cantabria posted 5.9% and Andalusia 5.8%. The autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla also tracked high with similar gains around 5.8% and 5.9% respectively [INE].
By contrast, the most modest year-over-year increases appeared in Castilla-La Mancha and Extremadura, where prices rose by about 1% and 1.1% respectively in the third quarter of 2022, underscoring regional variation in affordability and demand dynamics [INE].
Prices Climbed 2.5% Quarter-on-Quarter
From the second to the third quarter of 2023, housing prices rose by 2.5%, the strongest quarterly increase since the first quarter of 2022, signaling a broad-based acceleration across the market.
On a product type basis, new home prices advanced by 4.1% between July and September, the largest quarterly gain since the third quarter of 2020. Resale prices rose 2.2%, matching the pace of the previous quarter [INE].
All autonomous communities reported quarterly price increases between July and September. The most pronounced gains occurred in Navarra and the Balearic Islands, each up about 3.1%, with the Basque Country and the Canary Islands close behind at around 3%. The smallest quarterly increases were seen in Castilla-La Mancha and Extremadura, each around 0.6% [INE].