The trading of living place they closed 2021 with 564,569 operationswhich represents the best figure in the last 14 yearsaccording to data published this Monday by the College of Registrars.
The operations of 2021 represent a 34.5% increase compared to the previous year and note the industry recovery throughout the last exercise.
However, despite the positive closing, in the last quarter of 2021 there was a drop of 6.6% compared to the previous three months. In the case of new housing, the quarterly decrease was 3%, while in used housing operations fell by 7.5%.
Higher price, less surface
The median house price rose 0.5% between October and December 2021, up to 1,853 euros per square meter, on average. The Balearic Islands exceeded that figure, with the price per square meter at 2,963 euros, followed by Madrid, with 2,926 euros per square meter, the Basque Country, 2,860 euros per square meter, and Catalonia, with 2,293 euros per square meter.
The cheapest areas were Estremadurawith 731 euros the square meter, as well as Castilla-La Mancha, with 815 euros per square meter, and Murcia, with 1,049 euros per square meter.
In the fourth quarter, the average area of operations was 101.5 square meters, 0.5% less than in the previous quarter. These figures continue to move away from the historical maximum of 102.9 square meters for the housing complex, reached between January and March 2021.
The free new housing stood at 110.4 square meters, also below than in the third quarter and still close to 110.9 square meters of its historical maximum. In the case of second-hand housing, the average area of sales was 99.8 meters, 0.7% less than the previous quarter.
By type of dwelling, in the fourth quarter a 79.8% of the purchases corresponded to flats, while 20.3% were single-family homes. The accumulated data shows that the proportion is divided between 80% for flats and 20% for single-family homes.
foreign operations
The purchase of housing by foreigners recovered throughout the year of the 9.7% drop registered in the first three months of 2021. Thus, in the last quarter it rose 12.6%.
The British were the main buyers and represented 12.4% of the total, followed by the Germans, with 10.9%. In addition, the French (7.8%), Moroccans (5.7%), Belgians (5.5%) and Swedes (5.2%) also showed interest in the Spanish real estate market.
Home purchases by foreigners concentrated on the islands, with 39% in the Balearic Islands and 25.9% in the Canary Islands. Also in coastal areas, such as the Valencian Community (24.3%), Murcia (17.5%), Andalusia (13.1%) and Catalonia (12.7%), according to data from the College of Registrars.
On the other hand, Madrid registered a weight of 48.2% in the fourth quarter. Although it concentrates almost half of the operations, the operations fell 9.5 points compared to the data for mid-2015. In Barcelona, the weight is 24.3%, while in Valencia it is 28.5% and in Seville, 33.3%.
positive closure
The data recorded in December show a 25.2% increase in the number of total salescompared to December 2020, going from the 74,126 operations carried out that year to 92,793 in December 2021. If compared to the data for 2019, the increase is 35.8%.
In the case of home sales, the increase was 32.4% over December 2020 and 38.2% over 2019.
As for the number of mortgages totals in December, an increase of 20.4% was registered compared to the same month of 2020, while in home mortgages the increase was 23.0%. The evolution of mortgages in December shows a moderation in the constitution of mortgages that has not yet been observed in sales, they point out from the College of Registrars.