Portugal 
Italy 
Greece 
12 December 2017 – El País
House sales are continuing to record their best figures for a decade. The number of transactions rose by 16.7% in the third quarter to reach 121,561 sales. It represented the best third quarter of a year since 2008, when 122,949 operations were closed, according to data from the Ministry of Development. Buyers continued to focus on second-hand properties, with their more affordable prices. In this way, second-hand homes accounted for 110,126 transactions, representing 90.6% of the total. Meanwhile, 11,435 operations involved new build homes, which accounted for 9.4% of the total.
Since the real estate market began its recovery in 2014, only good results have been recorded. Over the last 12 months, between October 2016 and September 2017, 516,643 homes have been sold in Spain, which represents a 15.8% increase compared to the same period a year earlier. Nevertheless, the total volume of homes that have changed hands is still well below the levels reached during the years of the real estate boom. In 2006 alone, more than 916,000 units were sold.
Every single autonomous region recorded increases in the number of house sales during the third quarter of the year. The greatest rises were seen in La Rioja (32.9%), Cantabria (31.9%), Ceuta and Melilla (26.3%), Murcia (25.6%) and Andalucía (23.6%). By contrast, the smallest increases were recorded in Extremadura (5.7%), País Vasco (6.3%), Community of Madrid (7.9%) and Navarra (9.9%). By municipality, the highest number of sales were recorded in Madrid (8,560), Barcelona (4,096), Valencia (2,404), Zaragoza (1,944), Sevilla (1,779), Málaga (1,632), Alicante (1,399) and Palma de Mallorca (1,315).
Many of the towns benefitted from foreign demand, which has now recorded 25 consecutive quarters of YoY increases. Purchases made by foreign residents amounted to 20,257, which represents an increase of 17.6% compared to the third quarter of 2016. If we add the acquisitions made by foreign non-residents, the figure rises to 24,009, i.e. 17.4% of the total. By province, the highest number of purchases by foreign residents were recorded in Alicante (4,619), Málaga (2,429), Barcelona (1,937), Madrid (1,564), the Balearic Islands (1,377), Valencia (1,183) and Santa Cruz de Tenerife (1,175).
Original story: El País (by S. L. L.)
Translation: Carmel Drake