News for the sale of homes in Spain

House sales in September

Urban house sales in Spain during September provide good news with a continuing upward trend when looking at the sale of homes.

Conveyance data

Conveyance on dwellings in September 2014 showed a 13.7% increase when compared to September 2013 and a 14.9% increase when compared to the previous month of August 2014.

After a couple of months of higher purchase levels the year on year figure, which at the half year was down on 2013 is now only minus  1.4% accumulated across 2014.

The increase of 14.7% when comparing Septembers sales figures to those of August was the first increase between these two months in over 5 years and compares with a drop in sales between the two months in 2010 of minus 17.3%. Whilst 2010 was an extreme every year since 2010 sales have decreased in September when compared to the previous month of August.

Resales versus New Builds

Resale’s outstripped, yet again new builds by quite someway with 66.9% of all homes sold being resale’s and only 33.1% being new builds. New build sales continue to drop both month on month and year on year whilst resales are up accumulated across the year by 10.2% and a massive 37.3% when compared to sales in September 2013.

Helping the sales figures on resales will be a more pragmatic approach by Spanish Banks when considering sales prices of properties they have taken over, and extra flexibility on mortgages offered by the Banks when the purchase is one of their owned properties.

The figures provide good news for those individuals selling in Spain as buyers focus on used property which are perhaps seen to provide better value for money than brand new properties whose price per meter squared is often much higher.

Variations across the regions in Spain

The region of Andalucía saw the highest number of total transfer of property (which includes all Fincas rather than just homes) within the month followed by Valencia and Cataluña. Madrid whilst at lower levels of numbers had one of the highest percentage increases, up 17% on last year.

When viewing just homes being bought in Spain Madrid again showed a high percentage increase along with Valencia and the Balearics. The Canaries, Cataluña and Andalucía all showed decreases. The figures suggest that finally there is more activity with Spanish Buyers rather than the upturn in house sales being focused on foreign and second home buyers.

Actual sales versus transfer of properties under other categories

The gap between homes sold and homes falling under other categories which include transfer at court during repossession continued to widen as more properties were sold than were repossessed suggesting there is a slowdown in the amount of properties falling into arrears and into the reposs