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Notaries: House Sales Increased By 12.3% In March

19 May 2015 – El País

House sales increased by 12.3% in March, but average prices decreased by 7.5%.

House sales soared by 12.3% in March, with 34,736 transactions, a new inter-annual increase that reflects the stabilisation of monthly sales, according to the real estate statistics published by the General Council of Notaries.

Conversely, average prices experienced a further drop, of 7.5%. The price per square metre of homes sold was €1,202, which represents a cumulative decrease of 36.3% since the start of the crisis in 2007. “The reduction in the price per square metre is due to decreases in the price of flats (-6.1%, YoY) and unifamiliar homes (-10.2% YoY), explain the notaries.

By type of property, the sale of flats increased by 11.3% in March with respect to the same month a year earlier. This increase in the volume of transactions involving flats was supported by the increase in the sale of second hand properties (+19.8% YoY), whilst the sale of new builds declined again, by 32.6% YoY.

Meanwhile, the sale of unifamiliar homes grew by 16.3%.

The number of new mortgage loans taken out for the purchase of new homes increased by 27.6% in the month of March (14,755 were signed) and the average amount was €118,587, up 0.5%. The percentage of homes purchased using mortgages amounted to 42.5%. Moreover, for this type of purchase, the loan amount represented 77.7% (of the value of the purchase) on average.

Original story: El País

Translation: Carmel Drake