House prices accelerate with the second largest increase since 2007

Free housing became 6% more expensive year-on-year in the third quarter, three tenths more than in the second quarter and 1.7 points more than in the first. At this rate, prices would exceed their all-time high in six months.

House prices are accelerating their rates of rise. In the third quarter, free housing registered a 6% increase in the price per square metre compared to the same period of the previous year, which is the second largest increase since 2007. If this pace continues, house prices in Spain will set a new all-time high in just six months.

According to data from the Ministry of Housing and Urban Agenda, the price per square metre of free housing stood at 1,921 euros in the third quarter, 108.6 euros more than in the third quarter of 2023. The relative year-on-year increase stood at 5.7% in the second quarter and 4.3% in the first, after marking increasing increases throughout 2023: around 3% in the first and second quarters and 4.2% in the third and 5.3% in the fourth.

If the current rates continue (above 5% year-on-year), house prices will exceed the all-time high in Spain in just six months. The historical peak, located at 2,101.4 euros per square metre, was reached in the first quarter of 2008, at the peak of the so-called real estate bubble.

In fact, the all-time high price of housing is already a reality in the Community of Madrid, where in the third quarter of this year the average price per square metre of free housing was 3,274.60 euros, compared to the 3,007.40 euros it had reached before the Great Recession.