INE: House Sales Rose By 13.7% YoY In Nov 15

13 January 2016 – Expansión

28,733 homes were sold in November 2015, which represented a 13.7% increase compared with the previous year. Of those, 23,129 were second-hand properties, which as such represented 80.5% of all sales. Therefore, it is the second hand market that is driving the real estate market with an annual growth rate of 30.5% (around 5,500 more second-hand homes per month) given that 17,725 second-hand homes were sold in November 2014. The volume of these operations has been growing for 21 consecutive months now and sales figures of this magnitude have not been recorded since 2008.

Meanwhile, the sale of new homes, which account for 19.5% of all operations, decreased by 25.7% in November 2015, with 5,604 sales recorded, compared with 7,453 sales one year before. This represents, together with October, the lowest figure since the statistical series began (in 2007).

All of this means that the stock of half a million homes, which were leftover on plots across the country and in the hands of the banks following the burst of the bubble, are continuing to decrease, since statistically properties that were constructed more than a year ago are actually classified as second-hand homes. The data also shows that there are hardly any new builds, i.e. any homes that have been constructed within the last year, given the oversupply that still exists.

According to the data provided by INE, which is compiled on the basis of the operations recorded in property registries resulting from public deeds, in the 11 months to November 2015, 326,507 operations were recorded, up by 11.4% compared with the previous year. In other words, around 33,500 more homes were sold during the same period. Based on these figures, around 360,000 units will be sold during the year as a whole, equivalent to the full year figure in 2011 and almost half of the volume recorded in 2007.

Most of the homes sold during the month were unsubsidised (90.4%). The remainder were social housing properties. The most operations per 100,000 inhabitants were carried out in the Community of Valencia (111) and the Balearic Islands (105). But, in absolute terms, Andalucía continued to lead the ranking since 5,752 sales were recorded in that autonomous region, followed by Cataluña (4,523), the Community of Valencia (4,346) and Madrid (3,692).

Another interesting fact is that besides the sale of these 28,733 homes in November 2015, a further 30,000 real estate property transfers were made during the month. More than half (16,000) were classified as “other”, in other words, they corresponded to: transfers without ownership rights, “daciones en pago”, mortgage foreclosures and court awards. In addition, almost 13,000 entries were recorded due to inheritance (1,200 more than a year ago). The remainder related to swaps (1,120) and donations (only 93, half the number recorded one year ago).

Original story: Expansión (by Francisco Nuñez)

Translation: Carmel Drake