INE: House Sales Rose By 16% YoY In August To 41,282

11 October 2017 – Expansión

House sales rose by 16% in August with respect to the same month in 2016, to reach 41,282 operations, according to Spain’s National Institute of Statistics (INE). With the YoY increase in August, the volume of house sales recorded four consecutive months of increases.

In inter-monthly terms (August vs July), the sale of homes rose by 6.3%, its second highest increase in a month of August for the last five years. Although the increase in August was slightly lower than that recorded in July (16.8%), the number of house sales (41,282) recorded its third-highest figure since February 2011, exceeded only by May and June, when more than 44,000 sales were closed.

Transactions involving second-hand homes increased by 14.9% in August compared to the same month in 2016, to reach a total of 33,886, whilst the sale of new builds rose by 21.3% in YoY terms, to 7,396 transactions. “The residential market is showing clear signs of growth thanks to the strong performance of the economy, the consolidation of the mortgage market and the return of confidence to a sector that has been reviled for years and that is now starting to arouse interest again”, explains Beatriz Toribio, Head of Research at Fotocasa.

Based on data for August from INE, Toribio highlights the progress in the new build segment, which grew by 21.3% in YoY terms compared with 14.9% in the second-hand market. “The recovery of the real estate market has brought with it an increase in the volume of off-plan purchases and property developer activity, which will serve to alleviate the shortage in the supply of new homes, which is becoming more evident in large cities”, she added. “In 2017, new build homes will recover some of the limelight lost during nine years of consecutive decreases”.

90.6% of the homes sold during the eighth month of the year were private and 9.4% were subsidised social housing properties. The sale of private homes rose by 16.6% in YoY terms in August, to reach 37,412 transactions, whilst operations involving social housing properties rose by 10.2%, to 3,870 transactions.

The highest volumes of house sales for every 100,000 inhabitants were recorded in the Community of Valencia (163), the Balearic Islands (152) and Andalucía (125). Andalucía was the region where the most house sales were registered during the eighth month of the year, with 8,224 sales, followed by Cataluña (6,720) and the Community of Valencia (6,370). The regions that recorded the fewest number of house sales were La Rioja (262), Navarra (477) and Cantabria (507).

Original story: Expansión

Translation: Carmel Drake