House sales increased by 20.7% in Q1
According to data released by the Ministry of Public Works, there were 103,288 house sale transactions made before a notary in Spain in the first quarter of 2016. You would need to go back to 2010 to find the first quarter with as many sales.
The figure represents an increase of 20.7% when compared to the first quarter of 2015.
When you look at the previous 12-month period, from April 2015 to March 2016, the total number of homes sold is 419,396, representing an increase of 13.4% when compared to the previous 12 months.
By Region
When looking at the first quarter there were increases in house sales in 17 regions. The largest annual increase was in Murcia which saw sales numbers climb by 43.5%, while La Rioja followed closely with an increase of 43.3%. Asturias saw sales increase by 36.1% while Catalonia sold 28.2% more residential properties than in the first quarter of the previous year. Navarra, however, saw a decline in sales numbers of 11.8%.
By Municipality
In terms of the country’s municipalities, the most home sales in the first quarter of the year were recorded in Madrid with 8,620 sales. Barcelona saw 3,892 sales while Valencia and Seville recorded 2,025 and 1,590 sales, respectively. Malaga, on the Costa del Sol, recorded 1,314 home sales in Q1.
Last 12 Months
If we look at the cumulative sales figures for April 2015 – March 2016, and compare to April 2014 – March 2015, all autonomous communities registered an increase in home sales, except for Navarra while saw sales numbers fall by 0.8%. The largest increases were seen in Murcia, La Rioja and the Balearic Islands with annual increases of 27%, 21.9% and 18.6%, respectively.
Of the total house sales, 11,176 correspond to new housing, 10.8% of the total. The remaining 92,112 house sales were for resale property, representing 89.2% of house sales.
Buyers
With regard to the nationality of buyers, transactions by foreign residents saw annual growth for the 19th consecutive quarter, with a 24.8% increase over the first quarter of 2015, reaching 16,817 purchases. Purchases by foreigners not resident in Spain accounted for 1,087 of the total sales, 15.9% higher than a year ago.
As a whole, purchases by foreigners accounted for 17,904 home sales, 17.3% of the total.
The provinces to see the highest number of sales to foreigners were Alicante, Malaga and Barcelona, with 3,746, 2,333, and 1,501 home sales, respectively.
Other provinces to do well in terms of sales numbers were Madrid (1,233), Santa Cruz de Tenerife (1,225) and the Balearic Islands (1,163).
