Murcia

The number of home transactions during the month of April stood at 49,639 sales, according to data from the General Council of Spanish Notaries. This figure represents a 20.7% decrease in the number of units sold compared to April 2022.

All the autonomous communities registered drops in the volume of transactions, although the most pronounced were in the regions of La Rioja (-33.6%), Canary Islands (‑29.0%) and Madrid (-28.9%). In turn, in the Balearic Islands, Andalusia and Catalonia the decrease exceeded 20 percent.

The best performance was recorded in Murcia, with a drop of only 9.3% year-on-year, according to a publication in El País. As a result of the above, the mortgage firm plummeted 31.9% in the same month.

All the communities registered negative figures in mortgages, but the most important were observed in Navarra (-48.0%), Cantabria (-39.8%) and Catalonia (‑39.1%).

The data put an end to a 2022 of high sales, with 650 thousand houses sold, the highest figure in 15 years, which was due to the fact that many buyers anticipated rate hikes and tightening mortgage terms; in addition to the savings accumulated during the pandemic years.

The Euribor is around 4% and the Bank of Spain does not rule out that the indicator touches 4.5%. Consequently, The effort to buy a home is increasing and reaching all-time highs since the real estate crisis. Data published by the Bank of Spain corresponding to the fourth quarter of 2022 say that Spanish households allocated 36.1% of their salary to pay the mortgage, when the limit recommended by international organizations is between 30% and 35 percent.

Average price per m2 of real estate in Spain reaches its highest level

The price of houses in Spain becomes more expensive

Houses are still more expensive than a year ago, but the rate of increases is moderating notably. Data from the National Institute of Statistics (INE) corresponding to the first quarter show that housing became more expensive 3.5% from January to March versus the same period of the previous year. The rise, with which 36 quarters of increases have accumulated, is two points lower than that experienced in the last quarter of last year, when prices increased 5.5% year-on-year.

From 3.3% in the second quarter of 2021, this is the smallest increase in two years and it is the fourth quarter in a row in which the year-on-year increase is milder than that of the previous quarter, In other words, the trend towards slightly higher prices or even reductions in markets where there is no strong demand can be consolidated throughout 2023. In the INE analysis of the quarterly variation, the price of homes rose 0.6% in contrast with the period from October to December 2022.

When carefully observing specific regions, it was observed how prices presented negative quarterly rates in three regions: Extremadura (-1.2%), Castilla-La Mancha (-0.8%), and Murcia (-0.1%).

In the used housing market, the trend towards moderation in prices is more evident, where there is a greater availability of houses for sale. The price of used housing grew 3%, this is more than two points below what was registered in the previous quarter (5.3%). While, in the brand new apartments, where there is a high lack of supply that prevents prices from losing strength, the rise was double, 6 percent.

Although housing became more expensive in all the autonomous communities, the biggest year-on-year rises were from Navarra, Cantabria and the Canary Islands, with increases of 5.8, 5.6 and 5.5%, respectively. Catalonia equaled the national average (3.5%), Madrid was below (3.1%), while Extremadura (+1.1%), Castilla-La Mancha (1.6%) and Murcia (1.7%) had the lowest annual increases.

Lastly, the 143.6 points in the first quarter registered by the INE mean that housing was 43% more expensive than in the same period of 2015. On the other hand, April data provided by the General Council of Notaries indicated that the price per m2 rose by 0.9% on average in Spain. The increases in Castilla-La Mancha (20.3%) and Aragón (17.2%) stand out, as well as the decreases in La Rioja (-9.5%) and the Basque Country (-1.6%).