Sales of new apartments fell almost 10%
Property sales in Spain stood at 50,659 transactions in March, a year-on-year fall of 2.9%, according to data from the General Council of Notaries.
By type of property, the sale of flats showed a strong year-on-year drop of 5.4%. The fall can be attributed to a drop in sales of both new apartments (-9.3%) and second-hand (-6.2%). The average price of second-hand apartments stood at €1,538 (+2.3% year-on-year), while the price of new apartments reached €2,380 (+29.9% year-on-year).
In terms of average price, a square metre of home purchased in March reached €1,389, reflecting an increase of 1.7% year-on-year. This increase was due exclusively to the increase in the value of apartments (+4.1%) as single-family homes saw their average price per square metre decrease by 1.6% year-on-year.
There were 11,746 transactions involving other property types, 37.1% of which correspond to land or plots. The average price per square metre of these transactions stood at 174 euros, a huge fall of 31.7% year-on-year.
Mortgages
The number of new mortgage loans made in March reached 35,101, representing an annual increase of 5.1%. The average amount of the loans was €169,041, reflecting an annual decrease of 3.5%.
The number of mortgage loans taken for the acquisition of a property increased in March by 6.5% year-on-year, to 27,002 loans. This was due mainly to the 6.9% annual increase in loans for a home purchase. The average capital lent for a home loan reached €136,725, a slight increase of 1%.
New loans for the purpose of construction increased in March by 9.5% with 685 operations. The average amount loaned in these cases was 557,123 euros, a 0.8% reduction compared to March 2018. Loans for the construction of a house increased in value by 30.6% to reach an average of 378,747.
The percentage of home purchases that were financed by a mortgage loan stood at 49.7%. Additionally, in these types of loan, the average loan-to-value reached 74.3%.
