Spanish Real Estate Sales Rise in May

Sales of Spanish real estate saw a year-on-year rise of 4.7 per cent in the month of May, compared to the same month in 2017.

The latest figures released by the Spanish government’s central statistics unit showed that 47,177 units of Spanish real estate were sold during the month.

Year-on-year increase in Spanish real estate sales were seen in 13 of Spain’s 17 regions.

The biggest rise was seen in La Rioja where sales were up by a massive 53.6 per cent. Navarra saw the next highest rise of 27.5 per cent, while property sales in Murcia enjoyed a 20 per cent increase.

The four regions showing a decrease included the Balearics which are normally popular with overseas property investors. Sales in the Balearics dropped by 26.4 per cent year-on-year in May.

Asturias saw sales drop by 15.1 per cent, while Cantabria saw a fall of 10.9 per cent. Catalunya also experienced a drop with sales down by 10.7 per cent.

Over the first five months of 2018 Spanish real estate sales have reached over 217,000 representing an annual rise of 13 per cent overall.

Sales over the last twelve months make even better reading for overseas property investors considering Spain. Spanish real estate sales have reached over 490,000 during the last twelve months, marking the highest level since March 2009.

Sales have risen by 15 per cent over the last year and by a huge 67.2 per cent since the market hit the bottom in February 2014.

At around the same time as these figures were released, data from the Spanish notaries was also published. This showed an even higher figure for May sales of 51,896.

The difference in the two sets of figures is down to the fact that the central statistics unit uses data from when the real estate sale is registered, whereas it can take weeks or even months before those same sales are finalised by the notaries.

Whichever figures you look at however, Spanish real estate sales are certainly on the up.