Indices of house prices and residential property transactions: Q1 2011
12/05/2011 - Press Releases
According to data collected from credit institutions, (1) nominal apartment prices are estimated to have declined on average by 5.0% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2011. According to revised data, the average annual rate of change was -4.6% in 2010 (Q1: -1.8%, Q2: -4.7%, Q3: -5.2% and Q4: -6.9%), compared with -3.7% in 2009.
Apartment prices by age and geographical area
More specifically, the prices of "old" apartments, i.e. over 5 years old, declined by 5.6% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2011, at a higher rate than “new” apartments (i.e. up to 5 years old) which dropped by 4.2%. This observation is also valid for 2010 as a whole, when the average annual rates of decline in these categories were 4.9% and 4.2% respectively, and even more so for 2009 (“old”: -4.8%, “new”: -2.0%). The stronger decline in the prices of "old" apartments reflects the relatively stronger resilience of newly-built apartments generally available for sale by construction firms.
According to data broken down by geographical area, apartment prices are estimated to have declined year-on-year in the first quarter of 2011 by 5.9% in Athens, 7.5% in Thessaloniki, 4.0% in other cities and 3.3% in other areas of Greece. According to revised data, 2010 prices dropped on average year-on-year by 3.2%, 7.4%, 5.3% and 5.7% in the abovementioned areas. These figures show that in 2010 the prices of apartments registered the strongest decline in Thessaloniki and other areas of Greece, which include secondary residences or holiday homes.
In order to provide a more complete picture of house prices, the Bank of Greece has produced two new tables apart from the table on house prices by geographical area (Athens, Thessaloniki, other cities and other areas), which break down data between “new” (up to 5 years old) and “old” (over 5 years old). The detailed tables are published in the “Bulletin of Conjunctural Indicators” (Tables ΙΙ.7.1 and ΙΙ.7.2) available on the Bank of Greece’s website:
http://www.bankofgreece.gr/RelatedDocuments/NEW_INDEX_OF_APARTMENT_PRICES_BY_GEOGRAPHICAL_AREA.PDF
Indices of residential property transactions-appraisals (2)
Residential property transactions-appraisals conducted with MFI intermediation for any reason (renegotiation of existing loans, registration of a mortgage to back non-housing loans, debt transfers from one bank to another, etc.) stood at 12,718 in the first quarter of 2011, compared with 15,354 in the previous quarter. Year-on-year, residential property transactions fell by 47.8% in the first quarter of 2011. The number of appraisals in 2010 reached 74,134 (revised data), following a slight decline by 0.6% year-on-year (2009: 74,586), compared with a 35.7% drop in 2009 (2008: 116,034).
The volume of residential property transactions-appraisals based on total square metres declined by 43.9% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2011, while for the whole of 2010, based on revised data, this volume declined at an average annual rate of 0.5%, compared with 38.9% in 2009.
Finally, the value of residential property appraisals-transactions conducted with MFI (3) intermediation dropped by 44.2% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2011. In 2010, the average annual rate of change was -6.6% (revised data), against -40.0% in 2009. During the crisis, the slightly stronger declines in volume and value terms relative to the decline in the number of transactions-appraisals reflect a shift of buyers’ preference towards smaller and more affordable properties.
|
INDICES OF APARTMENT PRICES (1)
|
|
|
(2007=100)
|
|
|
|
2009
|
2010 *
|
2011
|
|
|
|
average
|
Q1
|
Q2
|
Q3*
|
Q4*
|
average*
|
Q1*
|
|
|
I. Summary
|
|
|
Price index
|
97.9
|
96.3
|
94.2
|
92.0
|
90.9
|
93.4
|
91.5
|
|
|
(%) change over previous year
|
-3.7%
|
-1.8%
|
-4.7%
|
-5.2%
|
-6.9%
|
-4.6%
|
-5.0%
|
|
|
|
|
|
II. BY AGE
|
|
|
1. New (up to 5 years old)
|
|
|
Price index
|
100.2
|
98.9
|
96.2
|
95.3
|
93.5
|
96.0
|
94.8
|
|
|
(%) change over previous year
|
-2.0%
|
1.2%
|
-5.3%
|
-5.0%
|
-7.6%
|
-4.2%
|
-4.2%
|
|
|
2. Old (over 5 years old)
|
|
|
Price index
|
96.5
|
94.7
|
93.0
|
89.9
|
89.3
|
91.7
|
89.4
|
|
|
(%) change over previous year
|
-4.8%
|
-3.6%
|
-4.3%
|
-5.3%
|
-6.5%
|
-4.9%
|
-5.6%
|
|
|
|
|
|
III. BY GEOGRAPHICAL AREA
|
|
|
1. Athens
|
|
|
Price index
|
96.3
|
96.0
|
94.8
|
91.1
|
90.7
|
93.1
|
90.4
|
|
|
(%) change over previous year
|
-4.6%
|
-1.0%
|
-2.0%
|
-4.1%
|
-5.9%
|
-3.2%
|
-5.9%
|
|
|
2. Thessaloniki
|
|
|
Price index
|
95.4
|
92.0
|
88.9
|
86.4
|
86.1
|
88.4
|
85.1
|
|
|
(%) change over previous year
|
-6.0%
|
-3.5%
|
-5.9%
|
-9.8%
|
-10.3%
|
-7.4%
|
-7.5%
|
|
|
3. Other cities
|
|
|
Price index
|
99.0
|
96.7
|
94.5
|
92.0
|
91.9
|
93.8
|
92.8
|
|
|
(%) change over previous year
|
-2.7%
|
-2.3%
|
-4.6%
|
-6.6%
|
-7.7%
|
-5.3%
|
-4.0%
|
|
|
4. Other areas of Greece
|
|
|
Price index
|
101.3
|
98.4
|
95.0
|
96.3
|
92.6
|
95.6
|
95.2
|
|
|
(%) change over previous year
|
-1.9%
|
-2.2%
|
-9.5%
|
-4.1%
|
-6.8%
|
-5.7%
|
-3.3%
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
INDICES OF HOUSE APPRAISALS-TRANSACTIONS WITH MFI INTERMEDIATION (2)
|
|
|
|
|
|
1. Transactions
|
|
|
Number of transactions
|
74.586
|
24.380
|
18.711
|
15.689
|
15.354
|
74.134
|
12.718
|
|
|
(%) change over previous year
|
-35.7%
|
52.9%
|
5.3%
|
-5.7%
|
-36.7%
|
-0.6%
|
-47.8%
|
|
|
2. Volume of transactions (total m2)
|
|
|
Volume index
|
46.7
|
59.1
|
46.7
|
40.2
|
40.0
|
46.5
|
33.1
|
|
|
(%) change over previous year
|
-38.9%
|
44.7%
|
3.1%
|
-3.7%
|
-32.2%
|
-0.5%
|
-43.9%
|
|
|
3. Value of transactions
|
|
|
Value index
|
48.0
|
58.3
|
44.2
|
37.8
|
39.0
|
44.8
|
32.5
|
|
|
(%) change over previous year
|
-40.0%
|
38.8%
|
-7.5%
|
-10.7%
|
-34.9%
|
-6.6%
|
-44.2%
|
|
* Provisional data.
Source: Bank of Greece.
(1) Bank of Greece indices of house prices and of the number and volume of residential property transactions use detailed data reported to the Bank of Greece by all credit institutions operating in Greece. These data are compiled by the Real Estate Market Analysis Section of the Bank of Greece as from 2009, under Bank of Greece Governor’s Act 2610/31.10.2008, and include banks’ appraisals of the current market value and qualitative characteristics of residential property. A total of about 538,807 appraisals were reported to the Bank of Greece (by end-April 2011) (68.5% concerning apartments, 18.9% houses, 5.6% maisonettes, 5.2% building plots, and 1.8% other types of property).
(2) The indices of residential property transactions are based on appraisal reports by banks’ engineers regarding the value and qualitative characteristics of residential property financed or used as collateral for loans extended by credit institutions. Part of these appraisals might not be associated with residential property transactions, but concern the renegotiation of existing loans, registration of a mortgage to back non-housing loans, debt transfers from one bank to another, etc.
(3) MFI: Monetary financial institutions