Madrid (EFE).- The purchase and sale of homes fell by 6.6% in February in the interannual rate, a decrease that was accentuated to 11% with respect to the data for January, in a context marked by the rise in interest rates interest and the consequent increase in the cost of mortgage financing.
With this new fall, the sale of homes resumes the decreases of December (-10.2%), which were interrupted in January with a rise of 6.6%, according to data released this Thursday by the National Institute of Statistics (INE). .
With the decrease registered in February, in the accumulated figure for the year, home sales move in negative territory with a fall of 0.1% compared to a year earlier.
New construction leads falls: 11% less
In February, 50,186 housing transactions were recorded. In second-hand ones, which represented more than 80% of the total, sales fell by 5.5% year-on-year and 11% month-on-month, while in second-hand the decreases were more pronounced, of 11.1% and of 10.7%, respectively.
In the second month of the year, 40,479 used housing transactions and 9,707 new ones were registered. In fact, new home sales have fallen in five of the last six months, while in the case of second-hand homes they have registered negative year-on-year rates in two of the last three months.
By type of dwelling, 92.2% of those transmitted in February were free, a total of 46,255. This data shows a drop of 6.5% compared to February 2022 and 10.6% compared to January 2023.
For its part, only 7.8% of the sales were of subsidized housing, which is equivalent to 3,931 operations, 7.9% less than a year earlier and 15.5% less than the data for January.
The number of home sales carried out between individuals in February was 33,590, which is 6.3% less than in the same month of 2022.
Declines in most communities
By autonomous community, in February there were interannual falls in most of the communities, with the greatest decreases being those of La Rioja (23.6%); Cantabria (17.9%); Extremadura (16%); Community of Madrid (15.6%); Galicia (11.9%); Andalusia (11.8%) and the Balearic and Canary Islands (10.8%, respectively).
Growth in sales was only observed in Asturias (19.9%) and the Valencian Community (2.9%).
The communities with the highest number of transmissions were Andalucía (9,795); Valencian Community (8,241); Catalonia (7,857) and Madrid (6,388).
Registered farms fall 8.8%
In February, 182,869 farms were registered in the property records, 8.8% less than in the same month of the previous year and 4% less than in January.
The biggest decreases corresponded to donations, which fell 25% to 4,912 operations. Next came swaps, which totaled 526, 12.8% less, and sales, which fell 8.7% to 99,054.
For their part, other operations (land concentrations, horizontal divisions, daciones en pago, foreclosures or judicial adjudications, among others) totaled 35,267 in February, 16% less.