For 26 months, without interruption, houses have been increasing in value for banks. And the bank valuation of real estate - which is carried out in the context of mortgage applications - reached its highest level in eight years in May, with the square meter (m2) settling at €1,265 on average nationwide.
The latest data from the National Statistics Institute (INE), released on Thursday, June 27, 2019, show that between April and May there was a €9 (0.7%) increase in the value of bank valuations, but if this comparison is made in annual terms with May 2018, there was an increase of 7.6%.
This year-on-year growth is, in fact, the highest since INE began releasing this data in 2011. The growth rate has been above 6% since June last year and has accelerated since February this year. The monthly variation has been consistently positive since March 2017.
Apartments have seen the highest increase in value. The average appraisal value rose the most for this type of property, increasing by €10 to €1,343/m2. Overall, two- and three-bedroom apartments accounted for 83.1% of apartment appraisals carried out in May.
In the case of houses, banks increased the value by €6 to €1,137/m2, with three- and four-bedroom houses accounting for 71.5% of valuations.
Once again, these two indicators correspond to maximum levels, with the year-on-year comparison showing that apartment values (+9%) are growing faster than those of houses (5.9%).
In terms of regions, there were also several where records were set. The Algarve has the highest bank valuation (€1,655/m2) and the strongest year-on-year growth (11.3%), although the variation between April and May was negative (-0.2%). In the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, the increase was 7.8% to €1,539/m2.
The largest increase for housing as a whole was recorded in the Autonomous Region of the Azores (1.8%), and the most intense decline in the Autonomous Region of Madeira (-2.1%), according to INE.
Source: INE