In September, the sale and purchase of real estate in Spain reached a level that has not been observed for 161 months. According to data published on Monday by INSEE, 53,410 transactions were concluded in the real estate market, which was the best indicator since April 2008. The pandemic, which paralyzed some purchase decisions that are now being implemented, at the same time generated new demand, as it changed the prevailing stereotypes. An increasing number of families are making decisions in favor of buying a house instead of apartments. The economic recovery is also contributing to the growth in demand: the market has been growing year-on-year for seven months in a row. In the last four, real estate sales were higher than in 2019.
More than 53,000 transactions in the ninth month of the year are 40.6% more than a year ago. This percentage is lower than in previous statistics, which indicates some normalization of the market. However, it should be borne in mind that the situation is comparable to the period when the worst effects of the pandemic in Spain were over and buyers again showed interest in real estate (in the first wave of COVID-19, the market stalled and the recovery of sales and purchases began in the summer of 2020). Jose Garcia-Montalvo, Professor of Economics at Pompeu Fabra University, said the real estate market lost about 80,000 transactions last year compared to 2019. Nowadays, according to INE, almost 38% more properties were sold in the first nine months of the year than in the same period last year.
September is a very symbolic month for the real estate sector. It was on the 15th of that month in 2008 that the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers became the most memorable milestone of the Great recession. In Spain, this crisis took the form of a housing bubble that dried up the market. In fact, home buyers had warned of a slowdown months before. In April 2008, more that 54,000 sales were at that time a step down from 60,000 transactions. But now it is an extraordinary figure: it took more than 13 years to reach it again.