Spanish property sales rose by 13.6 per cent in 2016

The data regarding residential property sales registered in December were published by the government’s central statistics unit in beginning of february, revealing a 6.7% increase in comparison with the same month in 2015 and bringing to an end a year in which the level of activity on the housing market rose by 13.6%.

During 2016 a total of 403,866 transactions were registered, and the ongoing nature of the market recovery is illustrated not only by the growth in the last twelve months but also by the fact that the number of sales has risen by 26.7% since 2014. The figures were higher last year than in 2015 in all 17 of Spain’s regions, the most significant increases being those recorded in the Balearics Islands (31%), Catalunya (20%), Extremadura (18.6%) and Asturias (16%).

At the same time, year-on-year increases were registered in every month of last year apart from a minimal decrease in January, the only downward movement reported in the last 24 months.

In terms of the busiest markets, measured by the number of sales per 100,000 inhabitants, the two leading regions were the Balearics (1,521) and the Comunidad Valenciana (1,478), both of them areas where there is a high level of interest in property from non-Spanish buyers.

As for the December data, there were more sales registered in almost all of the 17 regions of Spain, the sharpest increases being those in La Rioja (22.6%), Extremadura (21.3%) and the Balearics (20.6%). Only in Asturias (-9.1%) and Murcia (-13.8%) was the market less active than in December 2015.