Market analysis Spain - August 2022

House prices rose more than 7% in spring 2022

The average price stood at 1,894 euros per m2, 7.4% above the second quarter of 2021. Resales properties rose the most.

The average price of housing in Spain rose by 7.4% at the end of the second quarter of 2022 compared to the data from a year earlier, reaching 1,894 euros per m2 according to the College of Registrars.

This increase was driven by the rise of 9.5% in resale properties in the interannual rate, while in the same period of time new properties (project sale) registered a rise of 1.6% in its prices.

Statistics from the College of Registrars for the second quarter of the year show a rise in housing prices of 2.4% compared to the previous three months, reaching 1,957 euros per m2

The price of resale properties increased by 3.4% in the second quarter compared to the previous quarter, to 1,937 euros per m2, while in the case of new properties there was a decrease of 0.7%, to 2,055 euros per m2.

Regarding new construction data, the College of Registrars specifies that "barely two out of ten purchases correspond to new properties and on many occasions, they collect purchase agreements with an average notice of two years, so they do not always collect the current behaviour from the market".

By autonomous communities, the most expensive housing prices were found in the Balearic Islands, where the square meter was paid at 3,180 euros, followed by 3,169 euros per m2 in the Community of Madrid, 2,787 euros per m2 in the Basque Country, and the 2,427 euros per m2 of Catalonia.

The greatest quarterly variation in prices was recorded in Madrid, with a rise of 5.5%, followed by the Canary Islands, with 4.6%, and the Region of Murcia, with 4.2%.

The registration of sales fell by 0.2%

Throughout the second quarter of 2022, 163,909 homes were registered, 0.2% less than between January and March, according to statistics from the College of Registrars.

In the case of new properties, this decrease was more pronounced, 13.7% less than in the previous quarter, to 27,879 registrations, while resale properties rose 3.1%, to 136,030 operations.

The registration of new home sales was negative in all the autonomous communities during the second quarter.

The accumulated data for the last 12 months shows 626,345 registered home sales, the highest figure since the third quarter of 2008, which "widely" exceeds the results prior to the health crisis, which showed just over 520,000 sales per year, as point from the College of Registrars.

During the second quarter of 2022, 80.8% of the operations were of flats, while single-family homes represented 19.2% of single-family housing, its highest figure since 22.5% in the fourth quarter of 2020.

The data published also includes the figures for registered sales and mortgages, "with significant increases in recent months", although with a tendency to moderation. Of the 96,216 operations carried out in June 2021, it rose to 102,748 in June this year, an increase of more than 6,500 operations. Similarly, there was a strong increase in home sales, of 18.3%, over June 2021. 54,481 operations have been registered this month, compared to 46,072 in the same period of the previous year, an increase of more than 8,400 sales, says the College of Registrars.

In the number of total mortgages, 52,588 operations have been registered compared to 48,374 in June 2021, which represents an increase of 8.7%. As for housing mortgages, from the 35,779 operations in June last year, this has gone up to 39,778 this month, 11.2% more.

Foreign demand, at a decade high

Foreign demand registered its highest level in the last 10 years in the second quarter of 2022. Between April and June of this year, an increase of 14.7% was achieved, with which five consecutive quarters of growth are accumulated.

Buying and selling increased by 9.8% among the British, followed by Germans (9.1%), French (6.6%), Belgians (4.9%). The autonomous communities preferred by foreigners are the Balearic Islands (34.7%), the Canary Islands (34.2%) and the Valencian Community (27.7%).