The number of home sales inscribed in the Spanish property register in August was 20% up on the same month last year, according to the National Institute of Statistics (INE), as the market recovery appeared to get back on track after an abrupt halt in July.

However, a bounceback in recorded sales was expected simply because the inscription of many previous sales was delayed in July due to a recent Supreme Court ruling on abusive clauses in mortgage contracts, which meant that property registrars suspended the inscription of sales tied to mortgages affected by the ruling. This has distorted the figures, though it’s reasonable to assume that recorded sales would have grown anyway in August, just not by so much.

Resales were up 25%, and new home sales up by 3%, another month of growth for new home sales providing further evidence that the years of big declines are now in the past.

BY REGION

Year-to-date by selected region (focusing on areas where foreigners tend to buy), the Balearics continue to lead the recovery by a wide margin with sales up 36% in the year to August, followed by Almeria up 26%, and Barcelona up 25%. Growth in the Balearics is being driven by resurgent German demand, whilst in Barcelona demand is ever more internationally diversified. Both destinations are also seeing record number of tourist visitors, which is starting to cause political tensions with regard to access to housing.

Looking just at sales recorded in August alone by region, searching for signs of a Brexit impact on Malaga (Costa del Sol), Alicante (Costa Blanca), and Murcia, where the British are the biggest group of foreign buyers, sales are still growing, but significantly less than other regions that attract foreign buyers. This probably reflects lower British demand due to the impact of Brexit on British budgets and confidence.

SUMMARY TABLE MONTHLY SPANISH PROPERTY SALES – ALL YEARS