Purchase of houses in Spain is now to the level prior to the crisis

From his hand, also the reform of flats and houses is growing. Specifically, household spending on maintaining and renovating homes has grown 18.2% since 2013.

The purchase and sale of housing rose 16.8% in July compared to the same month of 2016, to 38,841 operations, according to the National Statistics Institute (INE). The sale of homes adds three consecutive months to the rise after it rebounded 23% in May and achieved its highest number of transactions since February 2011. In April, purchases fell by more than 8%, ending fourteen months consecutive year-on-year increases.

Numbers and figures…

Transactions on used homes increased by 17.7% in July compared to the same month of 2016, to a total of 32,049, while the purchase of new homes increased by 12.5% year-on-year to 6,792 transactions. 90.4% of the homes transmitted by sale in the seventh month of the year were free houses and only 9.6%, protected. Private housing sales increased by 18% in July year-on-year, to 35,124 transactions, while operations on sheltered housing rose 6.8%, with 3,717 transactions. In monthly terms (July to June), housing sales dropped to 12%, which is 1.9 points lower than the previous year (-10.1%). Housing sales fell by 12% between June and July.

The Spanish communities with the highest positive annual change rates in the number of housing sales in July were La Rioja (70.5%), Castilla-La Mancha (28.5%), and the Community of Madrid (26.6%). On the other hand, Extremadura (2.3%) and Galicia (5%) recorded the lowest annual variation rates in July. The largest number of housing sales per 100,000 inhabitants occurred in Valencia Region (145), Baleares (144) and La Rioja (127).

Andalusia was the region with the highest number of home operations in the seventh month of the year, with 7,304 sales, followed by Catalonia (7,020) and the Community of Madrid (6,126). The communities with the lowest number of housing sales were La Rioja (312), Navarre (348) and Cantabria (421). 

What about home improvements?

The National Association of Distributors of Ceramics and Construction Materials in Spain (ANDIMAC), about 70% of second-hand homes had before or after a reform, either to make them more habitable or to resell them. The amount spent on materials and equipment such as doors, floor finishes, toilets, taps, furniture and bathroom accessories, appliances and kitchen furniture, which are the elements most changed in Spain.

Although in Spain 80% of all homes are owned, spending on reform and improvement of them is still far from the European average. Households allocate just over 3% of their budget for maintenance of their home, while they spend more than 5% in car maintenance. Somehow, reform is still considered an expense, and even a luxury, and not a profitable investment, which revalue home and brings more health and comfort.

Renting is gaining ground and home improvements going up.

The fact that, more and more, renting homes is gaining ground as compared to property ownership, as well as that more than 50% of mortgages in Spain are paid, encourages many families to undertake reforms and improvements that during the last crisis had to be postponed.

In the Community of Madrid, for example, families will spend 1.989 million euros this year on reforming their homes, compared to 1,885 million in 2016. That is, 104 million more. The increase will be 5.5%, almost two points more than the national average, according to the 360º Observatory of Housing and Reform in the Home made by Arthursen for Andimac.

Between 2010 and 2016 expenditure on household reforms located in the Community of Madrid fell by 594 million euros. However, as for the rest of Spain, forecasts are bullish, as Andimac estimates that Madrid's spending on reforms will rise to 2,084 million euros in 2018.

On the other hand, that 78% of the regional housing stock is older than 18 years will boost spending on reforms. In fact, the average per household in Madrid will raise this year 37 euros, to 779 euros. And in 2018 could climb, according to the perspectives, to 811 euros.