Home sales fell 14.9% in Spain in September compared to last year, to 36,774 homes, according to data from notary associations, with a decline that reached 21.9% in Catalonia, where 6,940 were sold. housing, and 25.9% in the Basque Country. Only in Castilla-La Mancha and Cantabria did sales increase in September. The largest drop in sales, 16.9%, affected single-family homes, which experienced a large increase in sales in the last two years due to the effect of the pandemic.
The weakness of the real estate market, however, has not yet been reflected in prices: in Spain as a whole the price per square meter fell by 0.9% compared to last year, although by autonomous community only three saw prices drop: in Asturias, Navarra and the Basque Country. In Catalonia they increased by 0.2%.
The drop in sales reflects the tightening of financing conditions, which can also be seen in the drop in the granting of mortgages, of 22% in Spain as a whole and 31.5% in Catalonia.
According to the director of studies at the Tinsa appraiser, Cristina Arias, “the impact of inflation on household savings and the rise in interest rates reduces the granting of mortgages and moderates demand with respect to 2022, but sales accumulated remain above 2019 levels.”
Arias pointed out that “the evolution of housing prices continues to be framed in a context of deceleration and a tendency towards stabilization.” Thus, according to the General Index of the Tinsa IMIE statistics, the price of new and used housing in Spain rose by 5.3% in August when compared to the same month last year. However, compared to July, prices decreased by 0.1%.
All in all, Arias recalled, the average price in Spain is 19.3% below the maximums reached in 2007-2008, after revaluating 37% since it reached its minimum value after the financial crisis, in August 2015.
