Home sales begin 2021 with the same downward trend as last year.
According to INE data, 39,753 home sales were registered in January, 10% more than in December, but 15.4% less year-on-year. During 2020, operations were reduced by almost 18%. Despite the red numbers, the number of operations is the highest since last February, just before the health pandemic broke out in Spain.
In addition to the slowdown in sales, another trend of the past year that is maintained in the current year is the better performance of new construction transactions than those of second-hand properties. And it is that in the first month of 2021 8,416 newly built homes have been sold, just 0.4% less year-on-year. On the other hand, second-hand real estate operations fell by 18.8%, to stand at 31,337. With these figures on the table, new construction home sales increase their weight in the market, to represent 21 out of every 100 operations in Spain.
Francisco Iñareta, spokesperson for idealista, clarifies that “despite the bulky year-on-year drop in January, which has cut the series of two consecutive months of growth, we do not believe there are reasons for the discouragement of the sector, especially if we take into account that we are facing the highest number of sales in a month since the pandemic broke out. Among the reasons to justify the data we have, on the one hand, the damage caused by the snow storm Filomena, which blocked several Communities for more than two weeks. On the other hand, it seems that the effect of vaccination has not been as immediate as could be expected, possibly due to the third wave and delays and lack of coordination in the entire vaccination process. It is possible that in the coming months the number of operations will continue to grow, accelerating in parallel with health advances ”.
Results by Autonomous Communities
Andalusia was, by far, the region in which the most home sales were registered (8,376), followed by Catalonia (6,356), Valencian Community (5,577) and Madrid (5,277).
On the other hand, if we look at the number of operations per 100,000 inhabitants, the Valencian Community is number one in the ranking (139), ahead of Andalusia and La Rioja (both 125).
With regard to the year-on-year evolution, only two autonomous regions managed to grow in annual terms, distancing themselves from the generalized decreases. The most outstanding data is that of Cantabria, where sales have grown by 4.9% compared to January 2020; and Navarra, with a slight increase of 0.3%. All other communities have registered falls.
The Canary Islands has been the region with the most notable decrease (more than 52%), which means that in January of this year less than half of last year's sales were registered: Murcia and the Balearic Islands have also starred in strong setbacks, with drops of 30% and 28%, respectively. In the Basque Country the decrease is close to 22% and in La Rioja it is around 19%, while in Andalusia, Catalonia, the Valencian Community and Madrid the fall is somewhat lower than the national average, despite experiencing a double-digit decline. Aragon, Asturias and Castilla y León, for their part, have registered falls of less than 5%.
