Spanish home sales in September 2020

The latest home sales figures from the National Institute of Statistics (INE), and the Association of Spanish Notaries, both show the Spanish housing market back in positive territory in August and September, but much of that growth came from sales postponed during the lockdown, and so far this year the market is still 20% smaller than last year.

Spanish home sales completed in September 2020, according to the Association of Spanish Notaries.
There were 45,583 home sales completions witnessed by Spanish notaries in September, up 5.4% compared to the same month last year, following an 8.1% increase in August. The chart below shows sales completed in the last 12 months, with a big dip in the lockdown months of March, April and May, followed by a recovery as the country opened up.

The next chart shows the annualised change in sales each month, with the same decline and recovery on display, though in this chart you can also see how sales were already showing a tendency to fall before the coronavirus crisis hammered the market.

It should not be forgotten that the Spanish property market was already struggling with various headwinds before the Covid-19 pandemic smothered everything.

If you look at the 12-month rolling sales figure Y-O-Y change (next chart) you clearly see how the negative trend started two years ago, turned red in June last year, plunged in the lockdown, before stabilising and crawling back upwards between May and September.

So the figures from the notaries paint a picture of a market that was already on the slide before the coronavirus came along and strangled sales to a 70% decline in April before recovering to a 5% increase in September. However, some of that increase will be due to sales delayed from earlier in the year, which explains why year-to-date, the market was 20% smaller in the first nine months than the same period last year.

Spanish homes sales recorded in September 2020, according to the INE

Figures from the National Institute of Statistics (INE), based on sales registered by the Association of Spanish Land Registrars, show inscriptions in the Land Registry at 34,536, almost identical to September last year. In graphs, the figures tell a similar story to the ones above, just with a bit of a delay.

New homes and resales
The figures broken down between new homes and resales show a big increase in new home sales, whilst resales were still negative, just less so. Without the increase in new home sales, sales growth in September would have been negative.

Why the big increase in new home sales? Because those homes are now built and ready for delivery, and would have been completed earlier in the year were it not for the lockdown. So the increase is deceptive. It was not a real increase, just a shift in the timing of completions.

Spanish home sales by selected region – September 2020
The regional picture looking at areas of interest to foreign buyers presents a mixed bag with some destinations like Malaga / Costa del Sol and Murcia increasing, whilst Alicante / Costa Blanca was down, as were the Balearics. I assume that new home sale completions were partly to thank for the differences, and it’s interesting to note that the biggest falls were in cities like Barcelona and Valencia, where new home sales are relatively small, certainly in Barcelona. Even Madrid was down 10%, so perhaps there is something going on in the big cities we need to keep an eye on.

Year-to-date, the regional picture is still grim in the regions most popular with foreign investors, where sales declines have been above average in Malaga, Alicante, and the Balearics. That makes sense considering that travel restrictions have been a bigger obstacle for foreign buyers than locals this year.

Source: Spanish Property Insight, November 2020