THE BEST FIGURE FOR SALES AND PURCHASES IN THE LAST 23 MONTHS HAS BEEN RECORDED.
The data on real estate transactions for the month of June 2021 released today by the INE reflect a monthly increase of 2.5% and a year-on-year increase of 73.5%. “For the fourth consecutive month, the number of sales and purchase transactions carried out in our country have shown very high year-on-year increases. These data reveal that the sector continues to be strong and leading the economic recovery in our country. However, these large year-on-year increases must be contextualised, as the comparison is made with June 2020, when there was still a state of alarm and notaries and registrars only attended to urgent cases, so it is normal that the evolution is so large. Even so, if the comparison is made with the same month in 2019, the evolution is more than positive and an increase of 18% is recorded, confirming that the data prior to the pandemic has already been surpassed”, explains María Matos, Director of Studies and Spokesperson for Fotocasa.
The most striking figure is the number of closed operations. In June 2021, 48,201 operations were closed, the best figure so far this year and the highest figure in the last 23 months. In July 2019, 48,337 transactions were closed. “We are approaching 50,000 transactions per month and these figures are reminiscent of those recorded during the real estate boom years of 2008,” adds the director of Estudio.
The health crisis and especially the confinement experienced last year 2020 have made Spaniards give housing more importance than ever. “We have never had so many Spaniards with the intention of changing their home and so many interested in looking for a new home, and month after month the data we see on sales and purchases confirms that housing is once again the main protagonist,” adds María Matos.
In fact, a few weeks ago Fotocasa published the report “Radiografía de la vivienda 2020-2021: un año de pandemia” which shows that the participation of Spaniards in the purchase market has not only recovered, but presents data higher than those recorded before the coronavirus hit Spain. (From 39% in February 2020, it has increased to 40% in 2021). “The demand to buy is experiencing an unprecedented boom and many Spaniards have switched to buying a home and have been encouraged to look for a larger home,” remarked María Matos.
New construction continues to arouse great interest
Another interesting fact is that, for yet another month, new home transactions are on the rise. Specifically, in June 2021, 9,363 new home sales and purchases were made, representing a year-on-year increase of 71% compared to 2020. “New housing is experiencing a boom unprecedented since the outbreak of the pandemic. Many Spaniards are opting for new developments for various reasons. One of them is because they tend to have communal areas such as gardens or swimming pools and in most cases they have terraces, features that have become essential for Spaniards looking for housing after confinement,” explains María Matos.
“Another important reason comes from teleworking and the fact that not having to go to the office every day is causing many Spaniards to leave the cities and are buying homes in the outskirts, and that is where a large part of the supply of new construction is to be found. Living in the city centre or close to work is no longer so important after the pandemic,” adds Matos.
Inheritances continue to increase
For yet another month, it is necessary to mention the year-on-year increase of 80.5% in the number of properties passed on through inheritance. These figures reflect the reality of the lamentable increase in mortality caused by Covid-19. The pandemic has boosted inheritances and has increased the number of properties offered by inheritance to almost 20%, as reflected in the report “Housing inheritances during the pandemic” by Fotocasa Research.
“The rapid recovery of the real estate sector has been very revealing. It indicates that the sector has left behind the uncertainty caused by the health crisis and that Spaniards are once again daring to buy homes, or even perceive this market turmoil as a good situation to find opportunities. Moreover, thanks to the momentum created by the great interest in buying a home, the sector now has a new challenge ahead of it: to respond to the great boom in demand that has awakened after the confinement”, concludes the Director of Research.
Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)