The Concession of New Mortgages Increased in Every Region except One

The number of new mortgages granted to buy a property during the second quarter of 2015 went up by an average of 26.9% across the whole of Spain, apart from one region in the north.

According to the latest report from the General Council of Notaries, the banks lent out more money than they did during the same period the year before, except in the region of Navarra, where the concession of mortgage loans dropped by 16.6%.

The study also highlighted the fact that the average amount of money conceded in each mortgage loan also increased by around 13% from 2014, to reach 117,114 euro. In five autonomous regions, this average was a lot higher.

In addition, in each region it was noted that property sales have also gone up moderately and it is a lot easier to be granted a mortgage loan from the bank than before.

And while there has been an upturn in the number of mortgages by 27%, in several regions the figure is much higher as you can see below:

• Cantabria: +51.6%
• Balearic Islands: +44.5%
• La Rioja: +42.6%
• Aragón: +41.6%

And, following these regions are:

• Murcia: +25.2%
• Cataluña: +25%
• Madrid: +24.8%
• Castilla y León: +24%
• Extremadura: +21.9%
• Asturias: +21.3%
• País Vasco: +12.1%

With regards to the amount of money awarded for mortgages across the whole of the country, the total amount was 12.7% higher than it was for the second quarter of 2014.

The highest growth of this figure was seen in mortgages conceded in Extremadura and the Canary Islands, with 46.9% and 33.1% more respectively.

The least difference between how much money clients borrowed for their mortgage was registered in Castilla-La Mancha and Cataluña (3.8% and 5.5% respectively).

La Rioja was the only autonomous region in Spain where this figure decreased – by 13.5% when compared to last year.

Property purchases also went up in every region between April and June this year, except for in Navarra. This was particularly evident in the regions of La Rioja, Balearic Islands and Cantabria, which saw property sales grow by 38%, 30.6% and 26.6% respectively. On the other hand, in Navarra sales dropped by 28.4% during the same period.

With regards to the average price of a property per square metre, there is a lot of difference between regions. Prices fell substantially in Navarra (-24.6%), but only by 5.6% in Asturias and by 2.4% in Aragón.

In contrast, house prices went up in other regions including La Rioja (+48.6%), the Balearic Islands (+7.3%), Andalucía (+5.2%) and Extremadura (+3.9%).

Source: www.idealista.es