Spanish home sales rose in May to the highest level for three years despite an ongoing collapse in new home sales, according to the latest figures from the National Institute of Statistics (INE).
There were 26,455 homes sale in May (excluding subsidised housing), and increase of 5% on last year, and 11% on the year before that.
Once again the increase came from the resale market, up 34% over 12 months, whilst new home sales plunged 42% to just over 6,000.
The following chart from the Spanish property portal Idealista.com illustrates the diverging paths of the new build and resale markets, that started going in different directions at the beginning of 2014.
By selected region, Barcelona is the best performing market year-to-date (first five months of this year compared to the same period last year), with overall home sales up 17%. Sales in Catalonia as a whole (including the Costa Brava and Costa Dorada) were up 13%, followed by the Madrid region (+12%), Asturias in the North of Spain (+11%), and Malaga, home to property on the Costa del Sol (+10%).
Resales were up dramatically in all the regions covered, in particular in the Andalusian province of Almeria, home to property on the Costa Calida, where resales were up 96%.
The overall picture is one of a recovery in demand in all areas where foreigners tend to buy, but with the market hamstrung by the lack of attractive new homes for sale.
