Else Beekman
The Spanish housing market experienced a significant decline in March, with a decrease of 19.3% compared to the same month last year. This trend is a continuation of the downward trend that has been visible since early 2023. This is evident from data from the National Institute for Statistics (INE).
A total of 44,878 homes were sold in March, of which more than 80% (35,961) were second-hand homes. This segment saw a decrease of 20.5% compared to March 2023. New homes were sold 8,917 times, a decrease of 14% compared to the same period last year. These figures are the lowest for a month of March since 2020, when 35,745 transactions were recorded.
Downward trend dominates first quarter of 2023
The first quarter of 2023 showed a 5.6% decline in home sales compared to the same period last year. Sales of second-hand homes fell by 7.6%. Sales of new homes saw a slight increase of 3%. This trend underlines the persistent uncertainty in the housing market, partly caused by rising interest rates and financial uncertainties.
Regional differences in home sales
At a regional level, there were significant differences in the decline in home sales. The Balearic Islands saw the largest decline with a drop of 39%, followed by Castile and León (30%), Extremadura (28.9%) and the Basque Country (25.9%). Only Navarra and Cantabria saw an increase in home sales, by 37.6% and 3.5% respectively.
Decline in registration of real estate
Real estate registrations also showed a downward trend in March. A total of 166,239 real estate transactions were registered. That is a decrease of 19.6% compared to the same month last year. This included a 20% decline in real estate sales, a 44% decline in barter transactions, a 24.8% decline in inheritances, and a 15.1% decline in donations.
Also read: Acute housing shortage in Spain