According to Spain’s national institute of Statistics (INE) the collapse in property sales may be coming to an end. Based on the latest figures from July (link below), there were a total of 37,079 property transactions in the month, of which 33,694 were standard sales and 3,345 were social housing (VPO).
Looking at non-VPO sales for a moment, that is a decrease of 19.6% year on year. Not necessarily a good figure, but compared to earlier in the year there has been a marked improvement in the level of sales with an increase month on month of 5.8%. Finally a positive bit of news!
On another interesting note looking at the figures for Spain, of the total properties sold 18,688 were for newly completed properties and 18,351 were for re-sales. This is the first time in recent years that both of these categories have reached parity. Generally new properties have made up a higher percentage of the total over the last year, due to the off-plan property boom in recent years. But with fewer and fewer off-plan sales from the ‘boom’ left to go to completion, this figure should continue to decrease and re-sales should once again make up the majority.
But this does not mean there will be no more new build sales. There are still many promotions on the market still looking for buyers. So, we can expect the figure to continue to decrease, as the best new build properties will sell first, and the less popular will continue to drop in price until there is demand. Although I could be wrong on this matter and the new build figure might suddenly plunge to next to nothing! Unlikely, but still a possibility.
Now for a bit of positive news for us here in Andalucía. Of the total 37,039 properties sold in Spain, 7,898 were in Andalucía. That 21.1% of the total. Or 1 in 5 of all properties sold in Spain!
So although the figures are better for July than for June, year on year, they are still down. And of course they are lower than the 2007 peeks. But if this trend continues we might soon see the end of this long dark tunnel
Regards
Andrew Belles
Arriba Estates
