House sales up 20% in January

House sales increased by 19.6% in January compared to the previous month with 45,013 transactions.

Yesterday the National Institute of Statistics (INE) published the figures for transactions in January. Many of the transactions took place in 2010 but were not completed until January 2011 so therefore missed the deadline for the scrapping of the tax rebate for the purchase of property. The new rules came into effect in January 2011.

The increase was more notable in used housing where sales rose by 24.3% (23,168 transactions) while sales for new housing increased by 14.9 % (21,845 transactions).