ARCHIVED - First quarter property sales in Murcia show 16.8 per cent improvement
Mortgage finance is more affordable in Murcia than in any other region of Spain
The underlying health of the housing market in the Region of Murcia was underlined by the publication earlier this week of data gathered by Spain’s property registrars during the first quarter of this year, showing that 16.8 per cent more homes were bought and sold between January and March than in the previous three months.
The total does show a slight dip of 2.5 per cent in comparison with the first quarter of last year, but it has to be borne in mind that pandemic restrictions were in force throughout the first three months of 2021 and only for the last fortnight of the equivalent period in 2020.
In addition, although new builds accounted for only 17.4 of all 4,487 residential properties sold, the figure of 781 continues an increase which has now been on-going for seven years: this reflects the fact that after the market crash and slump which began in 2007 and 2008 promoters now have sufficient confidence in demand to invest in new projects.
Another factor in the increased optimism in the sector is that the registrars’ data show that Murcia is the easiest of Spain’s 17 regions in which to finance a purchase through a mortgage loan: the average mortgage repayment in the Region equates to only 21.88 per cent of the average salary, the lowest proportion in the country, as has been highlighted by the regional construction companies’ federation Frecom.