There were 63,661 home sales witnessed by notaries in March, down 11% on last year, according to the latest data from the Spanish notaries association, reflecting a not-unexpected slowdown in sales.

On a quarterly basis there were 156,692 sales, down 10% year-on-year, illustrated in the chart above. As you can see from the blue area-line showing the annualised change, sales have declined by 10% in the last two quarters, though if you compare March sales going back to 2007, the picture is more encouraging.  March sales were down on last year by 11%, but still the second-highest since the boom year of 2007. 

If you look at the annualised change in the 12-month rolling sales total shown in the next chart, which smooths out the ups and downs of each month, you can clearly see that the post-pandemic boom has come to an end.

Regional picture

Looking at regions of most interest to foreign investors, March sales year-on-year fell the most in Madrid (-23%) followed by the Canaries (-17%), with the smallest falls in Andalusia and the Valencian region (-6% in both cases). In the middle were the Balearics (-16%), Catalonia (-12%) and Murcia (-11%). 

Sales fell more than the national average in all regions bar Murcia, suggesting that foreign demand might be softer than national demand, given the importance of foreign buyers to most of these regions, with the exception of Madrid.

You can’t read too much into one month’s sales figures, but the trend is clearly down over the last six months, though not enough to cause alarm so far. Sales are still strong compared to previous years, so although the boom is over, it looks like a soft landing for Spain as a whole, though Madrid and the Balearics are hitting the ground harder.