The Spanish property market shrivelled by an annualised 30.4% in the third quarter of the year, according to the latest quarterly report on the market from Spain’s property registry.

The number of sales inscribed in the property register fell to 130,884 in the 3 months to the end of September, of which 71,896 were new build, and 58,988 resale.

Sales of newly built homes outnumbered resales for the second quarter in a row, which is unusual. The report points out that this is due to long sales cycles in the new build sector, so today’s completions were probably originated in better times. Developers’ new sales have collapsed this year, which means sooner or later we can expect the new sales figures in the registry’s reports to fall off a cliff.

On a quarterly basis, comparing activity in the 3 quarter to the preceding one, property sales fell by 8.6% overall, breaking down into -3.6% for new build, and -13.13% for resale.

In the 12-month period to the end of September there were 610,052 property transactions, down an annualised 26.55% , with resales down 36.31%, and new build down 13.36%.

Sales fell the most in Catalonia (-42.66%), followed by The Balearics (-39.43%), Navarra (-34.85%), The Valencian Community (-29.82%), Madrid (-27.25%), The Basque Country (-27.19%), Aragon (-26.63%), and The Canaries (-25.64%).

The market shrank in all but 3 of Spain’s 50 provinces, with coastal regions taking the worst beating as the holiday home sector implodes. Tarragona province, in Catalonia, suffered the most ( -47.5%), followed by Girona (-42.8%), Barcelona (-42.5%), The Balearics (- 39.4%), and Alicante (-33.9%).

Mortgage borrowing also continued to decline in the quarter, with the average mortgage falling by -2.41% to 140,193 Euros. Average mortgage repayments are now 834 Euros, which amounts to 47% of average income.