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The governor's comments came shortly after the National
Statistics Institute (INE) reported that house sales rose by
15.8 percent in October, the seventh straight month of
increases. House prices have risen almost 25 percent since a
return to growth at the start of 2015, INE figures show.
In the run-up to the 2008 crisis, the construction sector was
worth around 12 percent of Spain's economic output, there was a
sharp growth in lending and house prices were overvalued,
Hernandez de Cos said.
"Where are we today? We're a long way from any excessive growth
in credit..and the weight of construction has seen an important
adjustment," he told a banking conference in Madrid.
Spain's economy slumped for nearly five years after a burst
property bubble sent prices falling as much as 40 percent, hit
the construction sector and left millions out of work.
The construction sector has shrunk considerably since the end of
the last decade and now accounts for between five and six
percent of economic output. Mortgage lending has also seen a
sharp reduction as banks have reined in credit.
Housing prices, meanwhile, have shown some turnaround since the
economy returned to growth in 2013, but remain manageable,
Hernandez de Cos said.
"In the case of house values, we've seen prices rise quickly but
we're still a long way from where we were during the crisis," he
said.
(Reporting by Paul Day; Editing by Mark Heinrich/Keith Weir)
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