Spanish property sales rise again in October by 6.5%

When does a trend become the norm? For Spain’s property market, the answer must surely be “after nine straight months of sales increases”.

Because that is what has happened. Data from the Spanish National Statistics Institute (INE) have this week revealed that property sales in October were 6.5% higher this year than they were in the same month in 2015 – marking the ninth month in a row that transaction volumes were higher this year than their corresponding month in 2015…

The only exception to this is January, when 2016 sales were flat against 2015. But year-to-date figures show that sales are a massive 13.9% higher than at the same point last year, with more than 340,000 homes changing hands.

October can account for 29,369 of those sales, adding to a healthy 12-month picture that reveals a 12% increase when compared to the same 12 months between October 2014-15. The INE data shows that 397,000 Spanish properties have been bought and sold in the past year, which once again is the highest in more than five years.

Regionally, the usual suspects have been driving this growth, with Andalucía, the Balearics and the Communidad Valenciana accounting for the largest proportion of sales, while interestingly the relatively remote region of Asturias recorded the highest increase in terms of percentage, selling 21% more homes this October than last October.

Brits are still keenly active in the market, accounting for around 28% of all second homes bought on the Costa del Sol in the third quarter of this year, according to data from the Association of Spanish Land Registrars, although with the weaker pound demand has slowed a little since Q2.

However, the British buyer is still by far the largest in terms of nationality, but interest has been growing among buyers from Germany, Sweden, Belgium and France, the data has shown.