Notaries: House Prices, Sales & Mortgages All Rose In Feb

26 April 2017 – Idealista

February was a good month for the residential market. House sales rose by 9.9% YoY to reach 38,176 units, whilst house prices increased by 2.5% YoY, to €1,305/m2. The granting of mortgages also increased, by 2.5% YoY, to amount to 16,337 new loans, according to figures published by the General Council of Notaries.

By type of home, flat sales recorded a YoY increase of 11.2% (11.9% in the series corrected for seasonality) and sales of free (private) housing rose by 12.9%. This increase in the number of transactions involving private homes was due, exclusively, to growth in the sale of second-hand homes (14.5%), given that the sale of new flats decreased by 1.7% YoY. Meanwhile, the sale of family homes rose by 5.1% YoY.

In terms of prices, the cost per square metre of homes purchased in February amounted to €1,305, whereby reflecting a YoY increase of 2.5%. That increase was due to an increase in the price of flats (2.6%), as well as a rise in the price of family homes (1.9% YoY).

Meanwhile, the price per square metre of free (private) flats rose by 2.3%. Of those, the price per m2 of second-hand homes amounted to €1,426/m2 (up by 2.0% YoY) and of new homes stood at €1,809/m2, reflecting a YoY increase of 8.7%.

Finally, the percentage of house purchases financed using a mortgage loan amounted to 42.8%. Moreover, for these types of purchases (with financing), the loan amount represented 77.4% of the property value, on average.

Original story: Idealista 

Translation: Carmel Drake