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Pain in Spain

Catherine Deshayes

Analysts are ridiculing a new index of residential property prices in Spain, which was supposed to bring some clarity to the market...

According to the data released by the National Institute of Statistics, property prices in Spain fell by just 0.3 per cent from June 2007 to June 2008, despite the widespread reports that the market is in the midst of a sharp decline.

The index said resale prices fell 4.9 per cent in the year, but new home prices actually appreciated 5.3 per cent - which is highly unlikely, seeing as there are thousands of vacant homes currently on the market.

Mark Stucklin of Spanish Property Insight says the data is rather "dubious," at best.  "If the point of an official index is to provide reliable and timely insight into the state of the market, then this new index isn't much use," he says. 

Source: www.homesoverseas.co.uk