Catalonia housing prices plummet by 8.04% in 2010

Barcelona (ACN).- The housing crisis and wider global crisis is taking its toll on Catalonia's housing market as housing prices have fallen by 8.04% in 2010 compared to 2009. According to the figures by pisos.com research webstie, the average price per square meter dipped to 2681 euros. The data also included price decreases per Catalan regions with Lleida, in the north-east, experiencing a decline of 16.37%; Tarragona, in the south, dropping by 11.40%; and Girona, in the north-west, by 8.41%. Barcelona has been largely protected from the harsh decline, measuring a fall of 6.47% in property prices. 

Having experienced a housing price drop of 6.48% for 2009, Catalonia's current pricing slide is continuing a trend started by the credit crunch and ensuing global recession of 2007. The crisis caused the end of the construction boom in Spain which has now measured a decline of 5.11% in property prices across the country.

A Reuters poll predicts Spanish house prices would continue to fall in 2011, only to stabilise next year. Catalonia has the third most expensive property market within Spain after the Basque Country and Madrid. It is ranked fourth in the state for a decline in housing prices.

In absolute figures per regions, price per square meter in Barcelona remains at 2,870 euros, while Girona finished the year at 2,615 euros. Tarragona and Lleida are showing prices per square meter of 2,093 and 1663 euros respectively.

In terms of cities, Sitges remains the most expensive city in Catalonia, with a price of 4,916 euros per square meter. This Catalan coastal city is also the most expensive in the state if provincial capitals are excluded. Barcelona, the Catalan capital, prices a square meter at 4042 euros.