According to figures released by the National Statistics Institute on Wednesday, Spain saw its highest number of house sales in more than 13 years in July.
Approximately 50,200 homes were sold in July which is 53% higher than in July 2020.
July’s figures were 4% above the levels seen before the pandemic hit Spanish shores and approached the extreme pace recorded in 2008 during Spain’s ill-fated real estate boom. April 2008 saw around 55,000 houses sold, before the crash in the financial markets impacted housing.
Maria Matos, a spokesperson for online property portal Fotocasa, said in a statement:
“If you compare with the same month in 2019, the evolution is positive … which confirms that we’ve not only surpassed pre-pandemic numbers but also re-entered the big upwards trend in house sales initiated in 2018,”
The change in working practices, brought about the various lockdowns, have seen a shift to working from home. Also, the lockdowns brought a change of attitude to where people lived. Spain, like many other countries, saw a flight of people from cities to more rural settings.
Spanish Housing in Short Supply
Another big cause of the rise in prices was a shortage of supply. Data from property advertising portal Idealista this week showed that a stampede to buy after the end of coronavirus lockdowns has reduced the stock of homes for sale in Spain’s big cities by 4% over the past year.
Pent-up demand during the first 9 months of 2020 meant that when the strictest coronavirus restrictions in Europe were lifted in September 2020, people rushed to purchase properties.
Meanwhile, according to data from data from the College of Registrars, properties in Spain remain popular amongst foreign investors. Britons constitute around 12% of buyers, Moroccans nearly 9% and French and Germans 7%-8% in the first quarter of this year,
