The real estate market in Spain is experiencing a boom due to the increase in transactions, after the stoppage of economic activity due to the COVID pandemic. Notaries, registrars or the National Institute of Statistics are seeing the change that is taking place, from historical drops in the worst months of the health crisis to increases that were not seen since the real estate boom of the first decade of the century.
Although second-hand housing transactions continue to have a greater weight in the total volume of operations, we are going to focus on the data on new housing sales provided by the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agency (Mitma), collected by the General Council of Notaries, until the second quarter of 2021.
According to official statistics, provisional data between April and June of this year includes 177,207 housing transactions, the highest figure since the end of 2007. Of these, more than 17,100 are new-build housing, which represents 9.7% of the total in this period. It is not the highest figure achieved by new houses, but it does maintain its figures since leaving the confinement with an average of more than 16,000 new houses sold, improving the prepandemic values.
Comparing the figures from the second quarter of 2020 to the second quarter of this year, 82,216 new homes have been purchased, 21.5% more than in the same previous period.
Where have they bought more houses in Spain after the worst of the pandemic?
If we talk by province, Madrid is in the lead (17,840 transactions), followed by Barcelona (7,325), Malaga (7,179), Alicante (5,932) and Valencia (4,243). The data from Sevilla (3,279), Cádiz (2,105), Murcia (2,084) or Vizcaya (2,053) also stand out.
But if we look in detail at those municipalities that have registered a greater volume of operations on new houses, we can see the weight of the Madrid towns over the rest of Spain, the diversification of operations in the province of Barcelona, or the rise of the Coast zones.
Comparison postcovid vs. precovid in the sale of new homes
The city of Madrid is number one in the acquisition of new houses in the last year with more than 5,500 transactions; followed by Málaga (2,054) and Valencia (1,804) in the top 3. Behind, Rivas-Vaciamadrid (1,269) (a town bordering the capital, with more than 88,000 inhabitants) is placed among the municipalities with the most new houses bought in Spain after the pandemic, ahead of Seville (1,159).
Two other Madrid towns also have the same number, such as Alcalá de Henares, the third largest city in Madrid, and Boadilla del Monte, with one of the highest per capita income in Spain. The areas where there are more than 1,000 new homes for sale this last year, and complete the top 10, are Zaragoza (1,157), the Malaga town of Estepona (1,073) and the city of Córdoba (1,048).
The city of Barcelona does not appear until 13th place, with only 951 new homes transacted in the post-pandemic period, behind two other Madrid towns: Torrejón de Ardoz (981) and Getafe (968).
Other important towns in the Metropolitan Area such as Badalona (763), L’Hospitalet de Llobregat (679) or Sabadell (525) have also had a small increase.
On the other hand, the coastal areas are also experiencing continuity and growth in the purchase of new houses, as is the case of Orihuela, which is practically equal to its provincial capital Alicante (864 and 863 operations on new houses, respectively); Fuengirola, in Malaga (764); Torrevieja, in Alicante (532); Mijas, in Almería (522), or Jerez de la Frontera, in Cádiz (471).
The provincial capitals, although they mainly have the main housing parks, are not in the first positions but they have not been left out of the list either. The large cities mentioned above are joined by Pamplona (905), San Sebastián (680), Palma (651), Burgos (610), Oviedo (580), Valladolid (541) or Murcia (529).
Balearic Islands (664,000 euros), where the most expensive new houses are bought
El Mitma, along with the number of housing transactions, also offers the average value of these sales transactions at the provincial level.
During the second quarter of 2021, the average value reached its highest level since the data was taken in 2004, to reach 254,480 euros, exceeding the data of the fourth quarter of 2020. In fact, in the last four quarters of the study, the average value has exceeded 250,000 euros, above the average of the period prior to the pandemic.
If we talk by region, the Balearic Islands is, by far, the province where the most has been paid to acquire a new home, with its 663,907 euros, increasing the highest values seen before in the archipelago itself (590,353 in the first quarter of 2020 and 559,467 in the fourth quarter of 2019).
In Spain, the average value of new free housing transactions has never been as high as that registered in the Balearic Islands in the last quarter.
Madrid is behind, almost at half the price, with its 369,315 euros, also a provincial record in the average value that has been paid to buy new houses. In twelve of the last 11 quarters, the average price of a new home transacted in Madrid has exceeded € 300,000.
The third place on the podium for prices between April and June of this year has been Malaga, with € 340,400, although it is not the highest amount seen so far in that province. In the third quarter of 2019, an average value of € 428,480 was reached, until then the highest reached in Spain.
It should also be noted the prices that have been reached in Guipúzcoa (€ 323,175) or Barcelona (€ 298,982), which despite being above the national average, their highest figures in both cases.
