Minimal increase in Spanish property sales figures for May

Housing sales were up by just 1.8 per cent in the first 5 months of 2019

This Friday saw the publication by the government’s central statistics unit of the residential property sales data for the month of May 2019, showing that the number of transactions was 1.1 per cent higher than in the same month last year at 47,558.

This reflects the recent trend towards stability after a long period of growth as the market bounced back from its 8-year slump, and follows an increase of just two per cent in the months of March and April combined (thus eliminating the effect of a later Easter on this year’s monthly data).

As is so often the case, the overall figures hide a good deal of disparity among the results reported in Spain’s 17 regions. The figures were higher than in the fifth month of 2018 in 10 of them, most notably in Asturias, where a rise of 41 per cent is reported, while elsewhere the most significant gains were in other northern regions (Cantabria 19.6 per cent and Castilla y León 14.1 per cent). On the other hand, the year-on-year decreases were led by Navarra with 17.7 per cent and La Rioja with 15 per cent.

In the regions where the market began to recover soonest after the slump which began in late 2007 there was a drop of 6 per cent in Madrid and increases of 4 per cent and 9 per cent in the Balearics and Barcelona.

As is almost always the case, the region with most sales per 100,000 inhabitants of property-buying age during May was the Comunidad Valenciana, with a figure of 193, and this is due in large part to the frequency with which properties in the Costa Blanca change hands among the non-Spanish population in the Costa Blanca.

Although the overall total of sales registered in the first five months of 2019 is just 1.8 per cent higher than at the same point a year ago, in the longer view the extent to which the real estate sector in Spain is still recovering is such that the level of sales activity is now 77.3 per cent higher than when the market bottomed out in February 2014, with the running 12-monthly total standing at 520,000, 5.6 per cent higher than a year ago and the second highest figure since January 2009.

It is also worth noting that despite widespread reports of increased demand for new housing in Spain, and an upturn in residential construction activity, the proportion of sales accounted for by new properties during May was just 17.4 per cent, with 8,305 transactions reported.

To view a wide range of properties for sale across Spain consult the Spanish property page.

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