More home sales in Spain than last year

THE latest figures released by the National Statistics Institute revealed that home sales figures in Spain were 16.8 per cent higher for last March than for March 2015, registering a total of 31,925 transactions.

This was the second month in a row that sales registered a year-on-year increase, following a 15.8 per cent increase in February. The March increase was largely down to the secondhand market, which registered a 24.2 per cent year on year increase to 25,765 sales.

New homes, however, registered a 6.6 per cent decline compared to March 2015. With respect to area, the Canary Islands were the region to register the most sales per 100,000 inhabitants (127) followed by the Balearic Islands (108).

However, without taking population into account and focusing on plain numbers, Andalucia saw the most sales in March (6,299) followed by Cataluña (5,123), Madrid (4,878) and Valencia (4,186). La Rioja (186) and Cantabria (352) proved to be the least popular with property buyers.