Notaries: House Sales Rose By 7.3% In September

17 November 2015 – Cinco Días

House sales rose by 7.3% in September with respect to the same month in 2014, according to data published yesterday by the General Council of Notaries, which has been corrected for seasonal variations. The uncorrected data reflected an even greater increase, of 8.7% YoY.

This information also reveals that the price of these transactions per m2 rose by 1.7%. Despite the fluctuations in the monthly figures, the notaries argue that the series reflects a recovery in house sales although the volume is still a long way below the figures seen before the crisis.

By type of home, transactions involving flats increased by 7.1% in September. This increase was primarily due to sales of second-hand homes, which rose by 13% YoY. Meanwhile, sales of new homes experienced a 19.7% YoY decrease.

On the other hand, sales of single-family homes increased significantly, by 14.7%.

In terms of prices, the average price per m2 amounted to €1,242/m2, representing an increase of 1.7%. This was driven by an increase in the price/m2 of flats (by 2.7% YoY) as well as in the price of single-family homes (by 2.3% YoY).

In the case of flats, the price per m2 of second hand homes rose by 2% to €1,359/m2, whilst the price of new homes increased by 13.6% to €1,632/m2.

In addition, there were 7,394 sales involving other types of property, up by 11.8%, of which 42.6% related to land and plots. The price of these transactions amounted to €201/m2, representing a decrease of 5.7% in YoY terms.

The statistics also reveal a 17.4% increase in the number of mortgage loans granted for the acquisition of properties in August, in line with the rise in the number of transactions, to 12,048.

In that month, the (average) size of mortgage loans remained constant at €122,993.

In terms of the constitution of new companies, there was a decrease of 4.4% in September to 7,062.

The average capital of these companies also decreased, by 14.4%, to reach €15,218.

Original story: Cinco Días

Translation: Carmel Drake