The decline experienced by the IMIE index in the first quarter of 2013, 12.1%, was similar to that of the previous period, the fourth quarter of 2012, which recorded a drop of 12%. The accumulated decrease in this national indicator since the peak, that is, since the beginning of the crisis, now stands at 35.3% for the country as a whole, with the current value at 2004 levels.
Taking into consideration the Autonomous Communities, the sharpest drop in the value of residential real estate has been experienced by Navarra, 20.7%, followed by Catalonia, where it has fallen by 19% in the last year. It is also worth mentioning the decreases of over 15% in Aragón, Castile-La Mancha and Galicia, which have reached 17.5%, 16.4% and 16.3%, respectively.
After examining the data contained in this report, it can be seen that three Autonomous Communities have performed similarly to the national level: the Region of Murcia (12.3%), Andalusia (12%) and Cantabria (11.8%).
Within the group of Autonomous Communities, whose decrease is lower than that experienced by the index obtained for the nation as a whole, are Castilla y León, where a decrease of 11.1% was recorded, and the Balearic Islands, with 10.4%. Also close, but with falls significantly higher than the Spanish average, are the Community of Madrid (13.1%), Ceuta (13.3%), the Canary Islands (13.4%) and the Community of Valencia (14.3%).
The smallest decrease in value was recorded in the Autonomous Community of Extremadura, where it fell by only 7.4%, followed closely by the City of Melilla with 7.5%. La Rioja, with 8.6%, and the Principality of Asturias, with 9.6%, also recorded values below 10%.
At the provincial level, the most significant variations in the first quarter of the year were in Barcelona (-21.3%), Avila (-21%), Navarra (-20.7%), Toledo (-19.3%) and Zaragoza (-19.1%), with the first two exceeding the 20% barrier.
On the other hand, among those where the year-on-year decrease was more moderate were Badajoz (6.8%), Cordoba (7%), the Autonomous City of Melilla (7.5%), and Cadiz (8.2%). During this quarter, the first of the year, none of the provinces reported increases.
As for the accumulated decreases, since the maximum values were reached, there are already seven provinces with percentages equal to or higher than 45%, namely: Barcelona (48.5%), whose current index is close to the values reached in the second quarter of 2003, Zaragoza (48.2%) with an index as of today similar to the one it had in the third quarter of 2002, Toledo (47.3%), Guadalajara (47%), Almería (46.3%), Málaga (45.9%) and Girona (45%).
At the other extreme, among the provinces that showed less negative accumulated behavior since the beginning of the crisis, in addition to the Autonomous Cities of Ceuta (20.3%) and Melilla (11.4%), the provinces of Lugo (16%), Orense (18.3%) and Zamora (20%) stand out.
Returning to the analysis of the different Autonomous Communities, the most pronounced variations, from the maximum values reached, have taken place in Catalonia (-46.4%), Aragon (-46%) and Castilla-La Mancha (-44.7%), while the smallest variations have occurred, excluding Melilla (-11.4%) and Ceuta (-20.3%), in Extremadura (-25.1%) and the Principality of Asturias (-26%).
