Spain's house prices fall 2.2% in Q3

 

Spanish house prices fell 2.2 percent in the third quarter from a year earlier, the National Statistics Institute said on Thursday, as the property sector continued to struggle.

The collapse of Spain's property boom since 2007 has been at the heart of the country's economic problems. But prices have not fallen as much as those in Britain or the United States and economists say the decline will continue throughout next year.

Prices slid 0.9 percent year on year in the second quarter. In the July to September period, prices fell 2.2 percent quarter on quarter, the sharpest quarterly drop since the beginning of 2009 and after prices rose 1.6 percent on a quarterly basis from April to June.

A Reuters poll in October showed most analysts believe prices will only stabilise in 2012.

House sales fell in October for the second straight month, reversing eight months of gains, official data showed earlier this week.