Mortgage activity in Spain falls
December 29th, 2011 - 11:47 am ICT by IANSMadrid, Dec 29 (IANS/EFE) The number of new residential mortgages in Spain fell 43.6 percent in October compared with the year before, the National Statistics Institute, or INE, said Wednesday.
The 22,193 mortages finalized in October represent a decline of 28 percent from September and the lowest total since the INE started keeping track in 2003.
The median value of October’s loan was 106,140 euros ($137,982), down 5.2 percent from the previous month and 5.1 percent from October 2010.
Spain’s decade-long housing boom began turning to bust just months before the global financial meltdown of 2008, making the ensuing recession even more severe than in other European countries.
The Spanish unemployment rate stands at 21.5 percent, the highest in the European Union, and new Economy Minister Luis de Guindos said earlier this week that the nation’s economy will post negative growth in the fourth quarter of this year and the first three months of 2012.
–IANS/EFE
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