ARCHIVED - Registrars confirm return to pre-pandemic levels of activity in the Spanish property market

11.5 per cent more May sales in Murcia than in the same month in 2019

The May figures show just 1 per cent fewer sales in comparison with two years ago

Figures published on Monday by Spain’s property registrars indicate that the national property market has returned to the level of activity which was being reported prior to the outbreak of the pandemic, with the number of sales and purchases registered during May of this year being just 1.1 per cent lower than in the same month in 2019.

According to the registrars a total of 92,987 transactions were registered during the month, with the figures higher than in May 2019 in six of Spain’s 17 regions, the sharpest rises being reported in Aragón (14.1 per cent) and the Region of Murcia (11.5 per cent). At the other end of the scale are falls of 20.2 per cent in the Canaries and 15.8 per cent in the Balearics, with the islands presumably affected by the continuing travel disruptions this spring as they rely on holiday home sales for a lot of their market activity.

The data also illustrate the dramatic effect of the pandemic last year, as the year-on-year variation shows a 146 per cent increase over the May 2020 figure of 37,809 transactions. The coronavirus effect makes the year-on-year comparison a relatively meaningless exercise, but nonetheless it is interesting to note rises of up to 265 per cent in Murcia and 253 per cent in Castilla y León!

Mortgage activity

The registrars also report a return to “normal” in terms of the number of mortgage loans registered, the total of 45,404 in May representing a drop of a mere 3.8 per cent in comparison with two years previously. In this instance the most significant increases in the 2019-2021 comparison are reported in Cantabria (+26.9 per cent) and Murcia (+24.2 per cent) while again the Balearics and the Canaries foot the table with falls of 33.6 per cent and 19.1 per cent respectively.