Home sales rose 5.8% in February compared to the previous year and put an end to twelve consecutive months of falling transactions according to data published today by the National Institute of Statistics (INE). In total, February closed with 52,796 operations, 2.9% less than those signed in January.
The dynamism of February was mainly due to the increase in the sale of new homes, which skyrocketed by 20.8%, the highest rate since December 2021, to a total of 11,528 transactions, the highest number since January 2014. The sale of used homes increased 2.2% year-on-year in February, totaling 41,268 transactions, more than 78% of the total.
In the first two months of 2024, home sales have increased by 1.6%, with an increase of 11.8% in the case of new homes and a decline of 0.7% in used homes . It must be remembered that 2023 saw a 9.7% drop in sales, to 586,913 units, and put an end to the two years of mini real estate boom caused by the pandemic in 2021 and 2022.
Home purchases increased in February in thirteen communities, with the highest increases in Navarra (50.6%), Galicia (38.4%) and Murcia (19.5%), while the most moderate were in Madrid (0.4%) and the Basque Country (1.4%). At the other extreme, transactions were reduced in four communities compared to the same month in 2023: Canary Islands (-12%), Balearic Islands (-10.3%), Andalusia (-1.5%) and Castilla y León (-1 %).
The General Council of the Official Associations of Real Estate Agents of Spain indicated in a statement that the data indicates that 2024 will be a year of inflection after the “general pessimism” of 2023 due to inflation and the rise in mortgage prices due to the rise in interest rates. In his opinion, this year, with the foreseeable drop in rates, a “new economic panorama” is opening up that will boost sales since “small savers needed stability to buy homes and lose their fear of the Euribor.”
Francisco Iñareta, spokesperson for Idealista, warned that the change in scenario will translate more into an increase in prices, rather than a recovery in transactions. “Although the volume of operations closed in February of this year is close to that recorded in the same month of 2022, the available supply continues to fall sharply in the main markets, which “prevents strong growth in the number of operations and makes foresee an increase in market tensions that would lead to greater price growth".
According to a report prepared by this portal with data from its own advertisements, the supply of homes for sale in the first quarter has been reduced by 6% compared to last year, with even greater declines in the main markets, which reach Madrid and Malaga. 11% and in Barcelona 16%. The majority of provincial capitals now have fewer homes for sale than there were a year ago, with the greatest reduction in Ávila and Santander, where it reaches 26%.
The director of Fotocasa Studies, María Matos, highlighted that for the second consecutive month sales exceeded 50,000 transactions, with a start to the year “very similar” to that in 2023, a year that “showed a downward trend that has been broken in the first two months of 2024.” In her opinion, in addition, in the coming months “we will see how banks adjust their mortgage offers” which will give a new boost to the real estate market.
