Home sales and mortgage firm record their slightest fall in August since the arrival of the covid-19

The housing market continues to register red numbers half a year after the onset of the covid-19 health crisis, although declines are gradually moderated.

According to advance data published by Property Registrars, 29,671 home sales, 12.7% less year-on-year, and 18,745 home loans were formalized in August, 2.8% than a year earlier.

Although falls continue from last year, they are the best figures since last February, just before the arrival of the coronavirus. In fact, registrars stress that the decline in home sales is "much lower than they experienced in July (-32.9%), thus showing a significant recovery over the falls of previous months." And the same goes for mortgages, which have gone from falling 22.8% year-on-year in July to 2.8% a month later.

However, not the entire market has behaved in the same way. In some CCAAs, such as Aragon, Asturias, Castilla-La Mancha or La Rioja, home sales have recorded double-digit year-on-year rises. The largest increases in the country are in Extremadura, with an increase of almost 50%, and in the autonomous city of Melilla, where the increase exceeds 80%.

In contrast, the main drivers of the real estate market (Andalusia, Madrid, Catalonia and Valencian Community) have declined above the national average. In Andalusia, recorded transactions have been reduced by more than 14% and in Madrid, more than 18%, while in Catalonia the decline exceeds 22% and in Valencian Community it is close to 25%.

That pattern is repeated in home mortgages. Catalonia and Valencian Community are among the regions with the highest falls (in both cases the decline is double digits), while in Madrid and Andalusia the descent is around 6%. In Castilla-La Mancha, however, the number of loans registered has soared by 45%, in the Canary Islands almost 60% and in La Rioja, by 150%.