2017 brings four-year-high for January Spanish property sales

While much of Northern Europe was shivering in the snow, people in Spain were busy buying homes. Lots of homes.

January is not usually considered to be the best time to go property hunting. Sure, it’s the month of the January sales, but the high street is a very different beast to the Spanish property market…

That being said, official data from Spain’s property registrars has revealed that 38,457 homes were sold in Spain this past January, making it the best January since 2013, and a 18.1% increase on January 2016.

Indeed, such is the strength of this year’s January figures that were it not for an artificially created rush for demand in January 2013 (ahead of an impending change to tax legislation) then this year’s data would be the strongest for close to a decade.

At a regional level, the markets of Cantabria and the Balearics saw the highest year-on-year growth, recording an increase of 45.1% and 40.5% respectively, while interestingly demand for property in the Canary Islands actually contracted slightly on 2016.

By starting the year so strongly, Spain appears once again on course to deliver a sterling property performance in 2017. January’s figures are part of a wider trend that shows how, over the past 12 months, the 410,000 homes sold in Spain is a stunning 15.6% increase on the previous 12 month period, with further growth expected over the forthcoming 12 months.