Home prices drop 4.9 percent year on year

PALMA
SPANISH house prices fell 4.9 percent in September from a year earlier, marking the seventh consecutive month of decline as the property sector slump worsened, an industry report showed yesterday.

The fall comes after a 4.6 percent drop in August, according to figures published by the property surveyor group Tinsa.
Estimates vary greatly, with the Housing Ministry recording a two percent rise in home values in the second quarter, while a new series from the National Statistics Institute showed prices fell 0.3 percent over the same period. The Housing Ministry is due to report third quarter house prices today.

Prices fell the most in metropolitan areas, by 7.1 percent, followed by large cities, down 6.5 percent, Tinsa reported.