Spain’s mortgage market continues in the doldrums due to low demand because of rampant unemployment and stricter conditions imposed by the country’s banks.
According to figures released Thursday by the National Statistics Institute (INE), the number of home loans granted by banks in July fell 42.7 percent from a year earlier to 13,777, the lowest figure since the INE began the current statistical series in 1995. Home loans granted in June were down 42.2 percent at 14,053. Mortgages disbursed have now fallen for 39 months in a row.
The amount of capital lent by banks fell by 42.2 percent to 1.380 billion euros, with the average mortgage down 4.3 percent at 100,180 euros. House prices in some parts of the country have fallen by over 40 percent from their peaks around the end of 2007 and the start of 2008.
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