Home sales boom in third quarter of last year, according to Government figures

Property sales during Q3 reached 121,561 units, a 16.7% rise on the same period in 2016, and the best third quarter since the boom year of 2008, according to data from the Ministry of Public Works (Fomento) run by Iñigo de la Serna, pictured above.

In the 12 months to September 2017, some 516,643 properties were sold, an increase of 15.8% on the previous 12 months. The latest figures from the National Institute of Statistics, to be reported tomorrow, tell a similar story for the whole year.

In terms of types of property sold in October, 11,435 were for new builds, just 9.4%. Sales of resale properties made up the remainder, 90.6% of the total.

Sales rise across the regions

Property sales increased in all regions in Spain in Q3 compared to the same quarter in 2016. The regions with the highest increases were La Rioja (up 32.9%, Cantabria (up 31.9%), Murcia (up 25.6%) and Andalusia (up 23.6%). The autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla also registered high increases (up 26.3%).

Next on the list were Asturias with a rise of 22.11%, Castilla-La Mancha (up 21.7%), Catalonia (up 19.1%, Aragon (up 18.7%), the Comunidad Valenciana (up 16.8%), the Balearics (up 15.5%), the Canaries (up 14.7%), Castilla y León (up 11.5%), Galicia (up 10%), Navarra (up 9.9%), Madrid (up 7.9%), the Basque Country (up 6.3%) and Extremadura (up 5.7%).

In the 12 months between October 2016 and September 2017, all regions registered increases in comparison with the previous 12 months. Among the highest were Cantabria (up 23.3%), Castilla-La Mancha (up 23.1%), Catalonia (up 20.6%), Asturias and the Balearics (both up 18.3%), the Comunidad Valenciana (up 15.9%) and Madrid (up 15.1%).

Foreign demand continues to grow

Property purchases made by foreign residents in Spain went up year-on-year for the 25^th quarter in a row. In comparison with Q3 2016, purchases in Q3 this year went up by 17.6% to reach 20,257.

Between them, resident and non-resident foreigners bought 24,009 properties, 17.4% of the total.

The provinces with the highest number of purchases by foreigners were Alicante (4,619), Malaga (2,429), Barcelona (1,937), Madrid (1,564), Valencia (1,183) and Santa Cruz de Tenerife (1,175).