Number of Spanish Homes Sold in
First Six Months of 2016 Highest Since 2010
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| Spanish property sales continue there upward trend |
June saw a total of 36,856 real estate transactions across
all of Spain and it looks like the summer months are going to see the trend
from April, a month where sales growth year-to-year topped 19%, continue.
Growth was up 19.5% in June compared to June 2015, which
also marks a three-year high for June. During the first six months of 2016
around 207,593 houses have been sold in Spain, according to the Economy
Ministry. Most of the real estate activity has come from the five biggest
cities of Spain; Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Alicante and Málaga. Málaga
shouldn’t come as a surprise as they have the ever-popular Costa del Sol
nearby.
VIVA already reported that foreign investment is responsible
for a lot of this activity with real estate and construction making up a third
of the €22 billion spent in Spain by foreign nationals.
The Institute of National Statistics did further analysis
that showed the demand is increasing for luxury properties in Spain – something
the Costa del Sol has in spades – as the economic recovery of the country is
beginning to mirror the recovery being experienced by much of the western
world.
Research undertaken by Bankinter suggests that the demand is
only going to continue to increase. They released a report last week
forecasting that Spain will see over 480,000 more property transactions in
2016, which would be a 10% increase over 2015. The bank also predicted that
property prices will increase between 3-5% annually.
Experts are in agreement that the low interest rates are
doing more than just encouraging spending. They are also making property investments in the Costa del Sol and Spain more attractive than regular savings bonds. All of this should lead
to a strong 2017 and beyond for the real estate industry and Spain as a whole.
