Spain: Housing permits decline in December; housing prices fall for third consecutive quarter in Q4
The Spanish Board of Architects approved 7,059 new construction permits in December 2020, according to data published by the Ministry of Public Works. The figure was below the 8,072 permits granted in December 2019 and the 9,014 permits granted in November 2020. On an annual basis, permits declined 12.5%, contrasting November’s 30.7% surge which had marked the strongest increase in nearly two years.
Meanwhile, the moving three-month sum of permits totaled 23,087 in December, which represented a 5.0% drop from the same period of 2019 and followed the 0.1% slip recorded in November. The current number of permits represents a mere fraction of the 268,266 permits granted during the July–September 2006 peak amid a booming housing market in the leadup to the global financial crisis.
In Q4 2020, the general index of housing prices produced by the Ministry of Public Works dropped 1.8% year-on-year to EUR 1,622 per square meter. The dip followed the 1.1% decline logged in Q3 and marked the third consecutive quarter of falling prices. The price per square meter is well below the EUR 2,101 peak that was recorded in Q1 2008.