Fewer home sales, more expensive and a majority, to tocateja

2023-07-06 17:37:08

Home sales in Spain continue to fall as the rate hike approved by the European Central Bank (ECB) a year ago is transferred to credits. Citizens buy fewer houses because the interest rates are getting higher and the poverty of the families no longer allows it, but the prices continue without going down. And, to a large extent, the cost of acquiring a property continues to be very high because a majority of buyers do not require a mortgage to carry out this operation, but rather have the hard and cold money for the purchase. to toucheja

These are the major conclusions of the latest statistics prepared by the General Council of Notaries, where they reveal that the percentage of home purchases financed by a mortgage loan stood at 43.7%. In other words, more than 56% of operations are carried out without the need for financing. Transactions in which the future owner puts the money instantly. Various financial sources point out that they are usually buyers with assets from inheritances, large and fortunes and, above all and in recent months, foreign investors interested in the Spanish real estate market.

The pressure exerted by these buyers, together with a lack of new construction housing and an offer that does not stop increasing, cause the registered prices not to fall. Specifically, the price per square meter rose 0.8% year-on-year in May. In fifteen communities an increase in the price of housing was registered and in the remaining two it decreased. By order of magnitude, double-digit increases were recorded in Castilla-La Mancha (23.5%), the Balearic Islands (17.2%) and Asturias (17.0%). On the other hand, house prices recorded declines in Navarra (-15.4%), Galicia (-6.7%), the Basque Country (-4.4%) and La Rioja (-3.2%).

However, the number of sales continues to fall. In May of this year, compared to the same month in 2022, the sale of homes fell by 11.4% and the granting of mortgage loans for home purchases fell by 23.9%, according to notaries. In the case of homes, almost 59,000 purchases were registered, with a decrease of 11.2% in flats and almost 12% in single-family houses.

In addition, mortgage loans for house purchase also decreased by almost 24% year-on-year in May, to 25,754 operations. The average amount of these loans fell by 6.3% year-on-year, reaching an average of 141,915 euros. In this type of purchase with financing, the amount of the loan was, on average, 70% of the appraisal price of the property.