The Malaga real property market started the financial year with the same performance with which it accomplished last year, 2021.
This can be seen both in the number of issued mortgage loans and in the average amount of loans. Both indicators are at the level that has not been observed since the "bubble" in the real property market.
According to data released by the National Institute for Statistics (INE), 2,211 mortgages were signed in Malaga in January for a total amount of more than €400 million. On average, this is €180,900 per transaction.
In addition to the market growth cycle, the sector participants attribute high mortgage amounts to an increase in the number of various premium properties under construction in the Spanish province.
In annual terms, the number of concluded mortgage contracts increased by 76% in January. It also turned out to be 12% higher than before the start of pandemic. In fact, it is necessary to go back to 2008 to find a period in which the indicators would be comparable to the ones recorded at the beginning of 2022.
The end of "boom" in the real property market in Spain fell on 2008 – more than 4,000 transactions were registered then.
In terms of volumes, it is worth noting that the highest figures are already being observed in Malaga since the referred “boom”, which ended painfully in 2008 and led to a long economic crisis. It was only years later that the consequences of the crisis began to be overcome to some extent.
The data for January 2021 is even higher than the referred period of 2008, but since the figures are only for one month at the moment, it is necessary to observe the development of the situation throughout the year.
Experts believe that the current uncertainty associated with the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, inflation and high energy prices, as well as the beginning of rising interest rates "will test the strength of the real property sector and the mortgage market."
According to INE, in 2021 the financial institutions of Malaga lent out about €3,415 million, which means that an average mortgage loan size amounted €163,428. This is very close to the records of the "boom" period:, the average loan amount was €165,000 in 2007, and €159,000 in 2008.
In 2009, when the crisis had already been declared, the average fell to €123,000. In the most difficult years of the recession (approx. between 2012 and 2014), it was just above €100,000. Only since 2015 the market has gone up again.