INE: House Sales Rise For 9th Consecutive Month

9 July 2015 – El Mundo

House sales are continuing to rise.

In May, for the ninth consecutive month, the number of transactions increased by 6% with respect to the same period in 2014, driven by the second-hand market, according to the National Institute of Statistics (Instituto Nacional de Estadística or INE). In total, 29,457 transactions were closed during the fifth month of the year.

With the recovery in May (which was three points lower than the variation in April (9.4%)), house sales recorded their ninth consecutive inter-annual increase, thanks exclusively to a 34.7% increase in the sale of second-hand homes, to 23,130 transactions. By contrast, the sale of new homes decreased by 40.4% with respect to May 2014, to 6,327 transactions. During the first five months of the year, house sales have accumulated an increase of 8.5%, with a 37.3% decrease in the sale of new homes and a 42.6% increase in the sale of second-hand homes.

If we look at the monthly data (May versus April), house sales rose by 8.1%; the lowest increase during that month for five years. Most of the homes sold, specifically 89.9%, were “free” (unsubsidised) homes. Sales of that type increased by 5.6% in inter-annual terms, to 26,455 transactions; during the same period, sales of “social housing” (subsidised) homes amounted to 3,002 – an increase of 9.7% with respect to May 2014.

Navarra experienced the largest increase

The largest increase in the number of house sales per 100,000 inhabitants was recorded in Valencia (116) and Navarra (98). In absolute terms, Andalucía led the house sale ranking, with 6,162 transactions, followed by Valencia (4,533), Cataluña (4,388) and Madrid (3,810).

In relative terms, by autonomous regions, the inter-annual rate of house sales increased the most in: Navarra (32.9%), País Vacco (19.3%) and Galicia (18.5%); whilst the largest decreases were recorded in the Canary Islands (-14%) and Castilla-La Mancha (-10.9%).

Original story: El Mundo

Translation: Carmel Drake