The housing market expanded 17.4% by volume in August compared to the same time last year, according to the Association of Spanish Notaries.
Resales were up 19.7% whilst homes sold for the first time (not necessarily recently built) were down 9.3%.
As you can see from the chart above, the Spanish housing market is still just half the size of July 2007, when it was inflated by the bubble, but has recovered from a low of 30% at the end of 2012.
House prices were down 3.2% measured in terms of the average price per square metre, with single-family homes down 4.7%.
New residential mortgage lending was up 20.7% with an average loan value of €109,000, the latter up 1.7%, and the average LTV was 79% (of valuations).
All in all just another month of rising sales and the national average price falling (disguising big local differences).
The notaries do not break down their monthly sales figures by region, making it difficult to tell if Brexit is having an effect on the market in the four or five provinces where British demand is concentrated. However, the latest home sales figures from the INE, based on sales inscribed in the land registry in August (and witnessed by notaries in the preceding months) do break down sales by province, and show that growth has been far below the national average in provinces where the British have historically been big buyers. That’s the Brexit effect for you.
faygord says:
Do these figures relate to completions or signature of compra-ventas?
Understandable if the former, a little surprising if the latter.
Locally there was a rush to sell ahead of the referendum with buyers also keen to fix prices ahread of any likely currency fluctuations.
Locally (Alpujarra, Andalucia) I would say the market to UK buyers is just about dead with Sterking eqquivalent of euro asking prices effectively 20-20% higher than June. Euro buiyrs still active.
Mark Stücklin says:
These figures relate to completions.