According to College of Registrars' figures released on Monday, there was a 42.2% decrease in the purchase of homes in the second quarter of the year, compared with the same quarter of 2019. Between April and June, there were 76,545 purchases in the whole of Spain. This number was also down 40% from the first quarter.
The majority of these purchases, 62,259, were secondhand homes, a specific decrease of 39.6%. Over the twelve months up to the end of June, the college reports, there were 443,829 sales, a figure which represents a decline and is similar to that of 2017.
Travel restrictions played a part in second quarter sales. Foreign purchasers accounted for 10.7% of the total for the quarter, compared with 12% in the first quarter. In absolute terms, there were some 8,000 sales to foreign buyers in the second quarter, whereas there had been around 15,000 between January and March. British purchasers headed the foreign-buyer market with 12.3% of the total, followed by German purchasers (7.2%) and Romanian (6.9%).
The Balearics had the highest percentage of foreign purchases (24.6%), just ahead of the Canaries (24.5%). Valencia was third with 21.7%.
The college also reports that mortgage debt rose by 2,3% in the second quarter. The average was 129,806 euros. Mortgage defaults were at an all-time low: 2,792 foreclosures. Compared with April-June 2019, this number was down 65.2%.