The third quarter of the year saw a total of 121,561 homes sold in Spain, representing an increase of 16.7% when compared to the same period in 2016, according to data published by the Ministry of Development (Fomento). This is the highest number of Q3 home sales for nine years. To find a third quarter with more transactions we need to go all the way back to 2008, when there were 122,949 sales.
Looking at the previous 12 months (October 2016 to September 2017) there were a total of 516,643 home sales made, representing an increase of 15.8% when compared to the previous period.
Annual Variation
When we compare this year’s third quarter to that of 2016, all of Spain’s autonomous communities registered an increase in the number of home sales. Among the most significant increases were La Rioja (32.9%), Cantabria (31.9%), Ceuta and Melilla (26.3%), Murcia (25.6%) and Andalusia (23.6%). At the other end of the table we see the smallest increases occurred in Extremadura (5.7%), the Basque Country (6.3%), Madrid (7.9%) and Navarra (9.9%).
By municipalities, those that accounted for the highest number of purchases in the third quarter were Madrid (8,560), Barcelona (4,096), Valencia (2,404), Zaragoza (1,944), Seville (1,779), Málaga (1,632), Alicante (1,399), and Palma de Mallorca (1,315).
Analysing the cumulative totals of the last 12 months (October 2016 – September 2017 vs. October 2015 – September 2016), all the autonomous communities had a positive variation, highlighting Cantabria (23.3%), Castilla-La Mancha (23.1%), Catalonia (20.6%), Asturias (18.3%), Balearic Islands (18.3%), Valencia (15.9%), and Madrid (15.1%).
Regarding the type of property, 11,435 transactions corresponded to new property, which represented 9.4% of the total. Second-hand housing accounted for 110,126 transactions.
In relation to the nationality of the buyer, transactions carried out by foreigners residing in Spain experienced year-on-year growth for the twenty-fifth consecutive quarter, increasing 17.6% when compared to the third quarter of 2016, to reach 20,257 transactions.
The total number of purchases made by foreigners (residents and non-residents) reached 24,009, 17.4% of the total. By province, the ones that registered the highest number of sales by resident foreigners were Alicante (4,619), Málaga (2,429), Barcelona (1,937), Madrid (1,564), the Balearic Islands (1,377), Valencia (1,183) and Santa Cruz de Tenerife (1,175).
