MADRID, Spain (AP) — Housing prices in Spain fell 3.2 percent in 2008 in the first such drop in 15 years, the government reported Thursday.
The figure illustrates the dramatic decline in the Spanish real estate sector, which had been the main engine behind more than a decade of solid economic growth but collapsed over the past year or two.
During the market's heyday, prices rose as much as 18.5 percent in 2003, for instance.
The last time housing prices in Spain posted a decline for an entire year was in 1993, when they slipped 0.4 percent.
The new decline represents not a collapse in the market but rather a desirable moderation because prices had been so high they did not reflect the real value of homes, Anunciacion Romero, a senior official at the Housing Ministry, told reporters.
