The Association of Spanish Notaries has just published its report on the Spanish housing market’s performance in the first quarter of the year showing sales and house prices on the rise.

Home sales rose 19.5% in the first quarter of the year compared to the same period last year, and house prices were up 4.6% on average to 1,356 €/m2, show the latest figures from the notaries.

The monthly figures they publish have been telling a similar story all year, so this comes as no great surprise. The latest figures available (May) show home sales up 17.5% and house prices up 0.3%.

In their quarterly reports the notaries include a map showing the annualised change in both sales and house prices per region, which you don’t see in the monthly reports (see above).

Home Sales

The map on the left shows how much sales volumes have changed by region in a year. The darker the green, the more sales increased in a year. Sales fell in just one region – La Rioja, famous for its wines.

House Prices

The map on the right shows have prices changed in a year, with red showing price declines, and green price increases, all in terms of average price in €/m2 per region (allowing for big differences within and between regions).

It looks like prices are recovering better in the north of the country with the exception of the Basque Country, Navarre, and Rioja, but the results vary so much from quarter to quarter it’s difficult to draw conclusions.

That said, it’s surprising to see house prices recording a fall of 3.3% in the Balearics, as almost every other source of data shows prices rising on the islands, as demand for housing outstrips supply. So much so that the high cost of housing on the islands has become a hot political potato.

Mortgage Loans

New residential mortgage lending was up 17.6% nationally, and up 25.8% in the Balearics, which you would expect to push up house prices in a market with an acute shortage of land like the Balearics.

The average mortgage loan value rose 3.3%, and 44% of transactions involved mortgage financing (going from 68% in the Basque Country, to just 31% in the Valencian Region).