Crisis in housing market in Spain deepens

According to the National Institute of Statistics house sales in Spain for the month of October fell by 17.7% compared to the same month last year. A total of 27,198 transactions were carried out in October 2010 which is the lowest figure since January 2007. Out of this total 50.7% of recorded sales were for used housing and 49.3% were sales of new housing.

The crisis in Spain’s housing market worsened in October compared to the previous month when sales fell by 4.1% following eight months of increasing house sales. Moreover, house sales have only fallen below 30,000 transactions on two occasions – in April 2009 when 29,178 transactions were recorded and in October this year.

Despite the fact that house sales rose steadily during the first ten months of 2010 by 8.9% compared to the same period last year when comparing figures on a monthly basis (October 2010 compared to September 2010) house sales fell by 24.6%.

Out of the total number of transactions recorded in October 2010 88% of these were for private housing while just 12% were for state subsidised housing (VPO).

The sale of private housing fell by 20.2% compared to October 2009 while the sale of subsidised housing rose by 6.9%.

The sale of used housing fell in October this year by 16.7% compared to the same period last year (13,798 transactions) while the sale of new housing fell by 18.7% (13,400 transactions). Moreover, the fall in the sale of used housing registered in October this year puts an end to eleven months of year on year rises.

In October 57.8% of house sales were registered in Andalucia, the Madrid region, Catalonia and the Valencian region. The regions with the highest number of house sales per 100,000 inhabitants were La Rioja (93) and the Valencian region (also 93).

Looking at the figures for urban and country estates the total number of operations registered in October this year was 127,979 which is a fall of 13.

8% compared to the same period in 2009 and a fall of 11.8% compared to September 2010.

A total of 58,602 transactions were carried out which is 19.1% less than in October 2009 while 5,070 estates were taken over in donations (-8.3%), 1,113 were exchanged (-18.2%) and 28,169 property estates changed hands through inheritance (-2.2%). Out of the total number of sales of property estates 86.3% of sales were for urban estates while 13.7% were for country estates.

According to the National Institute of Statistics the number of sales of country estates fell by 8.3% in October this year while the number of sales urban estates fell by 20.6% during the same period.

Last October the total number of transactions of estates per 100,000 inhabitants was highest in Extremadura (699) and Castilla y León (594) and the highest number of sales of estates per 100,000 inhabitants was in Castilla y León (225) and La Rioja (221).