Date Published: 06/10/2020
ARCHIVED - Sales of domestic property in Spain recover slightly during August
ARCHIVED ARTICLE
Domestic property sales across Spain fell 12.7% in August, the smallest decline since March, according to registrars
Figures relating to the sale of all types of property, land and homes have been somewhat distorted by the coronavirus pandemic here in Spain, particularly during the lockdown months, but the August figures are starting to lean towards normality and show that the number of transactions was not as badly affected by the pandemic as in preceding months.
The sale of homes registered with the national Property Registry totalled 29,671 in August, which is 12.7% less than in the same month of 2019, the smallest drop since March, when the pandemic started to hit transactions relating to not only the sale of private properties, but also businesses and land, according to the real estate registry statistics of the College of Registrars.
This does however, mean that there were some 4,300 fewer home sales across Spain than in the same period of 2019, when before the pandemic almost 34,000 transactions were recorded.
During August a total of 65,059 transactions of real estate were registered, recording a drop of 7.9% year-on-year, in contrast to the fall of 25.1% experienced in July.
According to data from the registrars, during August 27,442 mortgages were formalized, 0.9% less than in the same month of 2019. Of these, 18,745 were mortgages relating to the purchase of homes, only 2.8% less than in the same month of 2019.
These falls are much more moderate than those of July, the month in which there were year-on-year decreases of 20.1% for all mortgages and 22.8% in the case of those made on homes.
By autonomous communities, the greatest drops in total property sales were in La Rioja (-24.1%), Comunidad Valenciana (-18.3%), Cataluña (-15.3%) and Madrid (-14.3% ). On the other hand, the greatest increases were recorded by Extremadura (+ 28.6%) and Asturias (+ 13.8%).
In the case of private domestic home sales, the largest year-on-year decrease of the 17 autonomous communities was the Valencian Community, with a drop of -24.9%, followed by Catalonia (-22.5%) and Madrid (-18.1% ). Extremadura, on the other hand, managed to record a year-on-year increase of 48.8%.
Regarding mortgages constituted on total properties, the largest interannual falls occurred during August in the communities of La Rioja (-30.7%) and Comunidad Valenciana (-24.2%), while the largest increases corresponded to Canary Islands (+ 175.7%) and Castilla-La Mancha (+ 39.1%).
In the case of home mortgages, the largest decrease among the communities was recorded by the Valencian Community (-22.8%), while the largest increase occurred in La Rioja (+ 151.6%), followed by the Canary Islands ( + 59%).