Home Sales in Spain Increased by 8.8% in June

The National Statistics Institute reported last week that, in June, the sale of homes in Spain rose by 8.8%, compared with the same month of 2013, reaching a total of 26,076 transactions, mainly thanks to the impetus of the second hand market.

The year-on-year increase in June is the fourth consecutive rise following those experienced in March, April and May, when home sales rose by more than 22%, 5% and 5.4%, respectively, ending ten consecutive months of year-on-year declines.

Figures released by the National Statistics Institute correspond to sales recorded in the property records from transactions carried out in previous months.

Considering only the monthly data (June over May), home sales fell by 7.3%.

The annual growth in home sales was due to the 17.4% rise in the sale of second-hand homes, which reached a total of 16,257 transactions. In contrast, the sale of new homes fell by 3% year-on-year, to a total of 9,819 transactions.

Most of the home sales transactions in June, namely 90.5%, were for private housing. The sale of this type of housing rose by 9.9% year-on-year, to 23,596 transactions, while the number of transactions on social housing fell by 1.4% compared with June 2013, to a total of 2,480.

Europa Press reported that home sales accumulated a decline of 5.4% in the first six months of the year, with transactions on new housing falling by 15.1%, while sales of second hand homes rose by 3.2%. Transactions on social housing accumulated a decline of 16% through to June, while private housing transactions fell by 4%.

In June, the highest number of home sales per 100,000 population occurred in Valencia (96), the Canary Islands (87) and the Balearic Islands (81). Andalucía continued to stand in the lead for home sales in the sixth month of the year, with 5,220 transactions, followed by Catalonia (3,961) and Madrid (3,789).

In relative terms, the regions where home sales increased most year-on-year were Madrid (+30.4%), Extremadura (+25.7%) and Navarra (+19.3%), while the largest decreases were registered for Castilla-La Mancha (-21.6%), La Rioja (-12.8%) and Castilla y León (-10.3%).
Adding together the rural and urban properties (houses and other properties of an urban nature), the total number of properties transferred in June reached 125,817, representing a decrease of 8.8% over the same month of 2013.

According to the Institute, the number of purchases of rural properties increased by 10.3% in June, year-on-year, while that of urban properties (which includes housing) rose by 5%.

In June, the total number of property transfers recorded in the land registries per 100,000 population was highest in Navarra (566), Aragón (536) and Castilla y León (512). The regions where these transactions increased most were Navarra (+27.1%), the Balearic Islands (+11.4%) and the Basque Country (+10.9%), while the most pronounced declines were registered for Castilla-La Mancha (-26.3%), Cantabria (-23.9%) and Castilla y León (-17.9%).

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