INE: House Sales Rose By 1.2% In February

11 April 2017 – Expansión

House sales rose by 1.2% in February compared to the same month in 2016 to reach 35,610 operations, according to figures published yesterday by Spain’s National Institute for Statistics (INE). The increase, which represents the 13th consecutive month of YoY increases, is well below the figure seen in January when the volume of operations rose by 18.1% in YoY terms to reach its highest figure in four years.

Transactions involving second-hand homes rose by 6.1% in February with respect to the same month in 2016, to reach 29,171 operations, whilst the sale of new homes decreased by 16.3% in YoY terms, to 6,439 transactions.

89.3% of the homes processed for sale during the second month of the year were private (unsubsidised) homes and 10.7% were social housing properties. The sale of private homes rose by 1.5% in February in YoY terms, to reach 31,807 transactions, meanwhile operations involving social housing properties dropped by 0.7% to 3,803 transactions.

In monthly terms (comparing February with January), house sales decreased by 7.4%, in contrast to the monthly increase of 8% that was recorded a year earlier.

By autonomous region

House sales decreased in nine autonomous regions in the month of February, in particular in the País Vasco, where sales volumes dropped by 15.7%. Meanwhile, they rose in the remaining eight regions, led by La Rioja, with increases of 14.9%. The highest YoY increases in the number of house sales were recorded in La Rioja (14.9%), Castilla y León (9.9%) and Cataluña (8.7%). At the opposite end of the spectrum were País Vasco (-15.7%), Cantabria (-9.6%) and Galicia (-5.9%), which recorded the highest decreases in February. In terms of the total number of properties sold per the property registers for every 100,000 inhabitants, the highest values were recorded in La Rioja (693), Castilla y León (612) and Navarra (566).

Original story: Expansión

Translation: Carmel Drake