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Slowdown in Property Sales in July

New property sales fell 33.1%
New property sales fell 33.1%

Sales of new property fell 33.1% in July

In July, there were 46,015 housing sales, an interannual fall of 20.8%, according to a report from the General Council of Notaries.

By type of housing, there was a 21.6% year-on-year fall in the sale of apartments, while sales of single-family homes fell by 17.5%. The falls were due to a fall of 33.1% in sales of new homes, and a 20.7% fall in the sale of second-hand properties.

Looking at the average price of property in Spain in July, the average price per square metre fell 1% to €1,453, when compared to July 2018. This fall was due exclusively to the fall in prices of apartments (-1.4%), as single-family properties saw their average price per square metre increase by 2.3%.

The average price per square metre of second-hand properties stood at €1,601 (-0.3% year-on-year), and that of new properties at €2,046 (-7.9% year-on-year).

Finally, in July the purchase and sale of other properties stood at 11,404 operations (-23.6% year-on-year), of which 39.5% corresponded to land or plots. The average price per square meter of these transactions was €241 (10.4% year-on-year).

Mortgages

There were 26,931 new mortgage loans approved in July, which represents a 29.0% year-on-year fall. The average amount of those new loans was €220,023, reflecting an increase of 10.4% year-on-year.

Mortgage loans for the acquisition of a property fell 23.5% year-on-year in July (22,306 loans), due both to the fall in the granting of loans for the acquisition of a home (-23.2% year-on-year) and the decrease in mortgage loans for the acquisition of other properties (-27.6% year-on-year).

In the case of housing, the average capital borrowed was €149,176, showing a slight increase of 0.2% year-on-year, and for other types of real estate the average loan reached €321,471 (+9.6% year-on-year).

Loans taken for construction showed a 51.1% year-on-year fall in July, down to 365 operations. The average amount of those loans was €909,269, showing interannual growth of 23.9%. On the other hand, the average amount of loans for the construction of a home increased 8.7% to €579,037 (274 operations).

Finally, 45.3% of home purchases in July were financed by a mortgage loan. In addition, in this type of purchases with financing, the average loan-to-value was 74.7%.