Mark Stücklin
Spanish home sales have declined for 12 consecutive months, reveals the latest Spanish housing market report from the notaries’ association.
There were 48,196 home sales witnessed by notaries, down 14pc compared to the same month last year, and the twelfth month in a row of annualised declines as the market cools down after last year’s boom.
Compared to any other period before the post-pandemic boom, however, the sales volume in September was remarkably good, with more sales than any other year between 2008 and 2019, as illustrated by the next chart. So sales are only down compared to the boom that followed in the wake of the pandemic.
By region, sales declined 21pc in Catalonia, 19pc in the Balearics, 18pc in the Canaries, 17pc in Madrid, 15pc in Andalusia and the Valencian region, and 9pc in Murcia, so sales declined more than the national average (14pc) in regions of most interest to foreign buyers.
House prices
The average house price in Spain remained unchanged at 1,643 €/sqm in September, but increased 8pc in the Balearics, 5pc in the Canaries and Valencian region, 2pc in Murcia, 1pc in Andalusia, and was unchanged in Madrid and Catalonia. The next chart showing the annualised national change illustrates how house prices have cooled down this year after booming in 2022.
Mortgages
New mortgage lending declined 22pc to 20,120 at a national level, and by 33pc in Catalonia, 28pc in the Balearics, 22pc in Murcia and Andalusia, 20pc in the Valencian region, 19pc in Madrid, and 14pc in the Canaries.
New mortgage lending has declined more than home sales meaning that the proportion of cash buyers has increased. At 41.7pc, the percentage of purchases involving financing was the lowest it has been since October 2017.
