Spain’s property resales reach highest point for a decade in second quarter

In the second quarter, resale volumes for Spanish property reached heights last seen in 2007.

Data published this week by Spain’s property registrars shows that the number of resale homes bought in the second quarter of this year was 99,343 – the highest quarterly figure recorded for ten years…

This means that the second-hand property market in Spain has now reached pre-crisis levels, with the the number of homes sold between April 1 and June 30 as high as those sold during the same period in 2007.

As the world and his dog knows, 2008 saw the arrival of the worst global economic crisis for more than 70 years, plunging Europe into recession, with Spain doubly affected.

However, home sales in Spain have been steadily increasing since 2013, and in the past 24 months in particular there has been a real surge in sales figures. This latest data also shows that resale properties accounted for 83% of all sales, with the remaining 17% of homes sold as new builds (out of a total 119,408 transactions across the quarter).

And this is where 2017 differs starkly from 2007. A decade ago, new build property sales in the second quarter of 2007 actually surpassed resales. In other words, almost double the amount of properties changed hands between April 1 and June 30 in 2007 than the same period this year, but the figures for resale homes were roughly the same.

This year, the 20,065 new build properties sold in the second quarter is just 20% of the figure sold in 2007, which indicates that Spanish developers, the construction industry and buyers have all learned their lessons from the past – and that is to not overheat the market by building, buying and flipping too quickly.

Mortgage data published by the Registrars revealed that the average loan capital for the second quarter was €115,769, which is below the average €150,000 a decade ago – an indication that prices are not as high and lending not as generous as in 2007.

As for the ever-present British contingent, UK-based buyers comprised 14.9% of all foreign buyers, which is an increase on the first quarter but slightly below the same period last year. In real terms this equated to 2,300 of the 15,600 homes sold to non-Spaniards.