Tag: ownership period

Spaniards Hold onto their Homes for Almost 15 Years on Average

1 April 2019 – El Confidencial

On average, families and individuals in Spain own their homes for 14 years and 8 months, almost double the figure reported in 2009, a year after the burst of the real estate bubble. According to data from the College of Registrars, the average ownership period recorded in 2018 is the longest in the historical series and reflects the fact that purchase decisions nowadays are more prudent and less speculative.

Specifically, 70% of homeowners have not sold their home for almost fifteen years, whilst 80% have owned their homes for more than 8 years. Meanwhile, just 10% of homeowners buy and sell their home within five years.

Moreover, the data reveals that second-hand homes accounted for 82.5% of all transactions in 2018, compared with new homes, which accounted for the remaining 17.5%. At the height of the crisis, the two types were almost on a par. Both of these data are positive for the real estate sector as a whole because they are allowing more sustained growth.

The other major finding to emerge from the Registrars’ data relates to the economic effort that families have to make to buy a home. The mortgage payment over salary percentage was 29.7% in 2018, with higher rates in Madrid (35%) and Cataluña (33%). According to experts, that figure should not exceed 30% if households are to have enough to cover their other expenses. What’s more, the ideal percentage is between 20% and 25%.

Original story: El Confidencial (by E. Sanz)

Translation/Summary: Carmel Drake

Spaniards Keep The Same Home For 12 Years On Average

26 April 2016 – Cinco Días

Yesterday, Spain’s Association of Property Registrars published the Yearbook of Property Registry Statistics, which analyses aspects such as the use that Spaniards make of their homes, amongst other factors. This use is deduced from the average period of ownership of each home, a very valuable piece of information that is only recorded by the registrars. In 2015, that average period amounted to 12 years and seven months, whilst in 2008, the figure amounted to just seven years and 10 months.

Thus, although this conclusion is not foolproof, the Treasury has already stipulated that during the recent boom, if a home was owned for less than five years then it may indicate that the property was acquired as an investment, whereas properties owned beyond that period, are likely to be used as residences.

The numbers published yesterday show once again that, since the bubble burst and the serious problems being faced by many citizens and companies when it comes to selling their homes emerged, operations involving properties that have been owned for more than five years have gained ground.

In fact, those operations went from representing barely 43.7% of all transactions in 2007 (in other words, less than half of the homes that were bought and sold during the last year of the boom were residences) to 80.7% last year, which the experts describe as a much more balanced figure. By contrast, those operations involving properties owned for less than five years went from accounting for 56.3% of all sales and purchases in 2007 to 19.3% last year.

Another significant finding relates to who participated in the majority of sales and purchases. In 2015, 87.3% of transactions were carried out by families, which represented the second consecutive increase since 2013. Companies, by contrast, continued to lose weight, accounting for just 12.7% of operations, compared with 15.3% in 2014 and 21.9% in 2013. Nevertheless, the figures are still a long way from the minimum of 5.1% recorded in 2007.

House purchases by foreigners accounted for 13.2% of the total and that figure has now been growing for seven years. In the Balearic Islands, that percentage amounted to 35.6%. Moreover, 5.2% of all operations completed by foreigners involved properties costing more than €500,000.

Original story: Cinco Días (by Raquel Díaz Guijarro)

Translation: Carmel Drake