ARCHIVED - Spanish property market continues to emerge from the Covid crisis as sales soar
April house sales in Spain up by 66 per cent over the same lockdown-affected month last year
As the pandemic situation continues to ease in Spain evidence continues to accumulate to suggest that the Spanish property market is returning to pre-coronavirus levels - if it has not done so already.
The latest provisional figures published by the national government on Friday, relating to the month of April, report that 42,211 homes changed hands during the month. This not only represents a rise of 65.9 per cent over the same month last year, when the first lockdown affected activity severely, but also a slight increase over April 2019.
However, a better view of the long-term picture is given by the rolling 12-monthly total. Since this point last year the number of residential property sales registered in Spain stands at 437,350, and now that the first pandemic months of March and April 2020 have been washed out of the total this equates to 90.6 per cent of the figure 12 months ago. For much of the last year the effect of the pandemic has been keeping the rolling total down to just over 400,000, a drop of 20 per cent in comparison with pre-pandemic levels, but it appears that the recent surge in sales is rectifying the situation rapidly.
It is no surprise that during April all 17 regions of Spain reported year-on-year increases in sales, with the highest reported by Extremadura (178 per cent), Castilla-La Mancha (165 per cent) and Navarra (121 per cent). However, as was the case last month, the Balearics fared less well, footing the list after recording a rise of “only” 23.9 per cent in comparison with April 2020.