Spanish Housing Defies Global Trend as Prices Increase by Most in 17 Years

Spanish house prices posted their biggest annual increase since the boom period before the global financial crisis, after a surge in demand from buyers rushing to avoid paying higher interest rates.

Prices jumped 9% in January from a year earlier, according to a monthly index compiled by Fotocasa, a real estate website. That was the sharpest rise since September 2006. The most expensive city was San Sebastian in the Basque region, followed by Barcelona and the capital, Madrid.