Stock of unsold homes is reduced for the first time

Stock of unsold homes is reduced for the first time

The Costa del Sol’s real estate sector is gradually starting to rid itself of the enormous burden of the thousands of newly built properties that remain unsold. According to the latest report on the matter from Ministry of Development, in 2010 the number of homes left without a buyer was reduced by 5.4 per cent. This is the first fall since the beginning of the financial crisis and contrasts with the 7.5 per cent increase in 2009.

Nevertheless the number is still significantly high in the province of Malaga: 21,443 on December 31st 2010, the tenth highest figure in Spain, and the equivalent of two per cent of all the properties in the province. However this initial reduction in the real estate stock means that Malaga is no longer the Andalusian province with the most new homes standing empty. Now this ‘honour’ falls to Almeria, where in 2010 the stock of new properties went up by 5.1 per cent to 23,665.

In fact the figures for Malaga put the province at the head of the real estate recovery in Spain: the reduction for the country as a whole was just 0.08 per cent.

“In 2010 the rate of the decline in property construction was similar to that of 2009, while the sales of new properties have recovered a little, leading to a very slight reduction in stock”, says the report.

In Spain at the end of 2010 there were 687,523 unsold new properties. Half of these are concentrated in three regions, Valencia (19.3%), Andalucía (16.3%) and Cataluña (15%).

Malaga is tenth on the list of Spanish provinces with the largest share of the country’s stock, with 3.1%.

The report also reveals what proportion of the total number of homes in a province is made up by unsold new properties. Castellón is at the top of the list with empty homes making up ten per cent of the total, followed by Toledo (6.2%), Almeria (6.1%) and La Rioja (4.7%). In Malaga this proportion is 2.03%, below the Spanish average of 2.7%.