ENCOURAGING SPANISH PROPERTY SALES IN ANDALUCIA
The results of statistics based on residential Spanish property transactions made before a notary, show that in the fourth quarter of 2010 a total of 150,268 homes sold in Spain, representing an increase of 14.2% over the same period last year.
In the whole of 2010, residential Spanish property transactions made before a notary amounted to a total of 491,061. This represents an increase of 5.9% compared to those in 2009.
The momentum has been marked by the increase in VAT and the disappearance of the tax credit for purchase of principal residences.
In Andalucia there were more than 88,000 Spanish property transactions, by far the largest number. This was followed by Valencia, Catalonia and Madrid, each with more than 60,000 exchanges.
These four regions account for 281,000 Spanish property sales, 57.2% of total operations in Spain. By province, the largest increase in property sales was recorded in Álava (41%) and the largest drop in Cuenca (21%).
The Development Ministry released the statistics last week showing that the turnaround began in 2007, when home sales fell 12.4%, and continued in 2008 (32.6%) and 2009 (17.8%) .
The sales momentum in 2010 was marked by the increase in VAT (from 7 to 8%) from July and by the disappearance of the tax credit for the purchase of residence for those with an income exceeding 24,000 euros at the end of that year.
Experts say that it is this elimination of the tax relief that has led, in the fourth quarter alone, to over 150,268 property transactions carried out before a notary, an increase of 14.2% over the same period last year.
This data is consistent with that recently published by the Association of property Registrars, which showed 445,885 exchanges (5.4% more), and the National Institute of Statistics, with 441,368 transactions (6.8% more).
With regard to the type of property in Spain sold last year, most were second hand properties (291 258, 30.8% more), while the rest were newbuilds (199,803, 2.5% more).
In the past 12 months there have been increases in sales of homes in eleven regions and in all the autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla, while six others continue to have negative rates of change.
The most notable increase occurred in the Basque Country, with a growth of 30%, while many others recorded declines, especially Murcia, down by 16,3%.
Catalonia experienced a decline in home sales of 15.9%, Balearic Islands (14.5%), Castilla y León (12.2%), Galicia (9.1%), Madrid ( 8.8%), Comunidad Valenciana (7.5%), Canary Islands (7.3%), Asturias (6.3%), Aragon (3.2%), Castilla-La Mancha (2.2%) and Ceuta and Melilla (15.6%). Murcia addition, there were declines of operations in Navarra (12.3%), La Rioja (10.4%), Extremadura (6.7%), Cantabria (5%) and Andalusia (0.6%).
With regard to the nationality of the purchaser, in 2010, there were a total of 29,615 purchases by foreign residents in Spain, representing an increase of 20.8% compared to 2009.
The highlight was Alicante province, with 7,204 transactions by foreigners, which represents 24.3% of the total recorded in the region.
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