Property sales in Spain soaring

New official figures show that residential property sales in Spain hit their highest level since January 2013 in May.

The latest National Statistics Institute data shows that residential property sales in Spain increased by 23.6 per cent in the year to May 2016 – the fourth consecutive month that sales numbers had risen.

The second hand market and, to a lesser extent, sales of new homes, were responsible for the May increase, up by 26.7 per cent and 12 per cent year on year respectively.

La Rioja and Andalucía were the most popular regions in Spain for residential home sales, followed by Catalonia, Valencia and Madrid. However, the highest numbers of home sales per 100,000 inhabitants were registered in the Balearic Islands, which saw a 70 per cent increase in home sales during the year to May 2016.

The data also shows that during the first five months of 2016, home sales increased by 15.8 per cent compared with the same period of 2015, with second hand homes up by 21.9 per cent but new house sales down 3.4 per cent over the five month-period.