In March Catalonia registered the lowest level of housing sales since 2007

In March, 2,750 flats and houses were sold in Catalonia, 13.9% less than a year ago in the same month. 32.5% were newly built homes and 67.5% were second hand ones. The previous worst month of the economic crisis had been December 2011, when 2,778 housing units were sold. However, the results from March represent the lowest level of housing sales since January 2007. The reasons behind this drop are the economic recession and the crisis of the real estate sector. In the whole of Spain, housing sales dropped by 12.6% compared to a year ago, with 22,086 flats and houses sold. However, at a Spanish level, the worst month in the last few years is still April 2012, when 21,551 housing units were sold.

CNA

May 14, 2013 12:42 AM

Madrid (ACN).- In March, 2,750 flats and houses were sold in Catalonia, 13.9% less than the same month the previous year, according to data released on Monday by the Spanish Statistics Institute (INE). Results from March represent the lowest level of housing sales since January 2007. The previous worst month of the economic crisis had been December 2011, when 2,778 housing units were sold. In the whole of Spain, housing sales dropped by 12.6% compared to a year ago, with 22,086 flats and houses sold. However, at a Spanish level, the worst month in the last few years is still April 2012, with 21,551 housing units sold. The reasons behind March’s drop are the economic recession and the crisis in the real estate sector, as well as relatively high figures registered in February (considering the economic crisis).


In February, 4,572 housing sales were registered in Catalonia, while in March only 2,750 sales were registered. This means a 66.2% drop month-on-month. In annual terms, in March 2012, 3,195 houses and flats were sold in Catalonia, which means that in the same month of 2013, they dropped by 13.9%.

According to the INE, 896 of the 2,750 houses and flats sold in Catalonia in March were newly built housing units. It is the lowest figure of new homes sold since January 2007. The 896 housing units represented 32.5% of all the sales; the remaining 67.5% were second hand homes (1,857 houses and flats). In addition, 2,453 of the housing units sold corresponded to free market sales while 297 sales corresponded to social or protected housing.

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