Tinsa House Price Index - More encouraging signals

The Tinsa House Price Index for May 2009 ha just been released and it certainly makes for encouraging reading. Last month's TINSA report fell a little flat because of the hope it would show that the decrease in house prices had reversed. Actually, both the March and April TINSA reports showed that Spanish property prices had remained at a relatively stable 10% down on an annual basis. While this is far from exciting - and a far cry from a complete turnaround - the TINSA data does suggest that house prices in Spain have bottomed out.





For the past four months, the TINSA index has been steady, 10% down Y-O-Y. Compared to the dramatic decline measured between the middle of 2006 and the start of 2009 - this is quite a significant change in the trend.

Te TINSA data is a far more accurate measure of what's actually happening in the Spanish property market. The official government data from the Institute of National Statistics and Ministry of Housing are only admitting a 10% decline in house prices from peak to trough - something anybody actually buying and selling property in Spain knows this to be ludicrous.
On the other hand, TINSA's data shows a 28% decline from peak to trough - a far more realistic figure and one which tallies well with what we observe happening in reality.
Even if TINSA's figures for the rest of the year show the Spanish property market bumping along the bottom at the current levels, many people will be relieved to have actually found the bottom - rather than worrying about how much worse things can get.
Source: TINSA and Kyero