ÍMIE

General Index and Major Markets

Tinsa has introduced a pioneering initiative in the market: a commercial index that shows property housing values in Spain. An important part of the economic growth that the country has experienced over the last decade is closely related to the remarkable development of real estate market. Its strategic relevance is crucial not only because of its direct contribution to Gross National Product but also due to its impact on the development of other sectors which depend on its behaviour to a great extent.
Under these circumstances, it becomes necessary to rely on a statistical study that frequently measures the evolution of the housing market, which undoubtedly has an instrumental and operational impact. The IMIE indexes are the definite tool to analyse the evolution of property values in the Spanish market. They have been prepared applying the highest quality standards and with absolute transparency and independence.
IMIE indexes provide information that is used as a point of reference for:

• A continuing follow-up of the residential market.
• Financial products (reference point).
• Real estate rental transactions (reference point).
• Investment analysis
• Establishing comparisons with other sectors.

From a geographic stratification viewpoint, the IMIE indexes try to avoid Province and Autonomous Community political and administrative demarcations in order to meet market criteria. In this sense, the Spanish housing market tends to focus on big cities and urban areas, as focal areas of modern economic activity, to the detriment of rural areas. Moreover, it relies on a large second home market segment mostly associated with seaside tourism, centralised in the Mediterranean coast and the Islands. Following these patterns, Tinsa has developed a subdivision of the geographical territory into five large areas that, in generic terms, represent the different segments that stand as the core of the real estate market:

• Capital cities and Large Cities with a population over 50,000 inhabitants.
• Metropolitan Areas formed by the municipalities which surround the aforementioned areas.
• The Mediterranean coast, where urban centres are strongly linked to vacation homes.
• Balearic Islands and Canary Islands, where real estate market has been traditionally influenced by foreign demand.
• Rest of the municipalities, small towns and average towns in the interior of mainland Spain and in the North coast.

The definition of the areas is based on the municipality and they are mutually exclusive. Each of them has got its own index and its weighted sum results into the general index, which constitutes a representative factor of the market as a whole.  
Main characteristics of the indexes:

• Show variations in the value per square metre of a building site.
• Indexes are based on the information from over 200,000 annual assessments carried out by Tinsa, which represents around 20 per cent of the Spanish market, a highly representative sample.
• Methodological basis similar to the one used for IPC preparation.
• Information is collected following the most accurate and qualified procedures by architects who deal with the Market on a daily basis.
• Monthly publication on the second Tuesday of the month.
• Available for everyone.