RICS European housing Review 2005

By Michael Ball

This is a reproduction of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) annual report for the European housing and property market 2005.
We have included the sections poignant to investing in the Spanish property market in their entirety, although we have left out the reports that cover other countries.
If you would like to view the complete report you can download it as a PDF on the last page or index.

Our opinion at IPS
The report may appear overly complicated at first, but we do recommend that you take the time to digest it in full. Perhaps click through the pages quickly at first and re read at a later date in more detail.

Of particular interest to the IPS team were obviously the in depth Spanish report as well as the country summaries on page 15.

We have included an index which you can access from the bottom of any page which should make it a little easier to navigate. To jump to the next page there is a link at the bottom of each page.

RICS The mark of property professionalism worldwide
The RICS European housing review 2005 was commissioned by RICS (Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors), the leading source of property related knowledge. With 110 000 members, RICS is the largest organisation for professionals in property, land, construction and related environmental issues worldwide. Policy makers, from local authorities to governments and global bodies listen to and value its impartial advice on public policy, economic analysis and policy research.

About the report
Michael Ball undertook the background research and wrote this report. Michael is the Director of Urban and Property Economics Consultancy Ltd, London and Professor in the Department of Real Estate and Planning, University of Reading, UK. For general enquiries email contactrics@rics.org and for technical queries contact Michael Ball at m.ball@reading.ac.uk This report was commissioned by RICS Public Affairs and supported by RICS Residential Faculty.

Introduction
Chapter 1 - Housing markets in Europe
Chapter 2 - The second home boom
Chapter 3 - Housing in the new EU countries
Chapter 4 - Country summaries

Country reports available
Chapter 18 - Spain

We have only reproduced the Spanish report here as previously stated.
Please visit the RICS website to view the complete 2005 European report, or you can download it as a PDF on the last page. country reports are available for, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

Introduction

Interest in EU housing markets has expanded considerably in recent years. So, there is a growing need for information on housing in individual countries and for comparative housing market analysis across the expanding EU.

This Review aims to
• Offer comprehensive coverage of EU housing and mortgage finance systems
• Examine housing markets in a comparative pan-European way
• Give informed interpretations of data and events
• Create quick reference information on housing and related topics, such as the economy
• Provide an understanding of the current state of EU housing markets
• Enable evaluation of the growth of homeownership in the EU
• Consider the role played by rental housing
• Comment on housing markets in the context of macroeconomic and demographic influences
• Outline important policy change

The format adopted provides a number of introductory comparative chapters, presenting an overview of recent developments and raising topical issues.

They are followed by specific country reports on a chapter by chapter basis. These reports explain, where possible, the broad structure of a country’s housing system, examine macroeconomic, financial, policy and other influences on housing demand and supply and evaluate current market conditions.

Given the expansion of the EU in 2004 to 25 member states, it has not been possible to provide individual chapters on all the new accession countries. All of the old EU15 are now covered with the exception of Luxembourg, Portugal is a new addition this year.

Of the new member states, country chapters have been researched and written for Hungary and Poland and an overview chapter on housing in the new accession countries is provided in Chapter 3. It is hoped to expand the range of countries in future editions. Switzerland has also been included because it has a particularly interesting housing system and good data. Emphasis is put on residential markets at the national level where regional issues of particular significance are considered, but it is beyond the scope of this study to undertake detailed regional and city analyses. Primary use dwellings are concentrated upon, though in this year’s Review, Chapter 2 presents an overview regarding second homes in Europe. While every effort has been made to ensure that the data and other information in this report are accurate, some errors may remain. In addition, it should be remembered that information in this field is variable in content and quality.

The purpose of the Review is to provide information, analysis and background to Europe’s housing markets and housing provision systems. It is not intended for use directly either in market forecasting or for investment decision purposes. Secondary sources were predominantly used but many estimates and manipulations of data were undertaken by the author. For simplicity, however, only the sources of independent data used are cited in the Figures and Tables.

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