Home sales plummeted 17.7% in 2020 compared to the previous year, to a total of 415,748 operations, registering

its biggest drop in nine years

and the lowest number of transactions since 2016, as reported by the National Institute on Monday of Statistics (INE).

With this annual drop, the sale of homes has led to

two consecutive years of setbacks,

although 2020, affected by the pandemic, has been much higher than that experienced in 2019 (-2.4%).

Between 2014 and 2018, home sales registered annual increases: 2% in 2014, 11.5% in 2015, 14% in 2016, 15.4% in 2017 and 10.8% in 2018.

In the period of the financial crisis, the worst years for housing transactions were

2009 and 2008

, in which these transactions plummeted

25.1% and 28.8%

, respectively.

In

2012 and 2011

, there were still double-digit declines

(-11.5% and -18.1%),

while in 2013 the decline moderated to 1.9% due to the end of tax benefits for the acquisition of housing.

The decline in the sale of homes in 2020 was due to the contraction experienced both in the operations of second-hand flats and new homes.

Specifically, the sale of

used homes fell by 19.2%

last year, its biggest drop in eleven years, to add 333,205 operations, while the transactions carried out on

new apartments fell by 11.2%,

to 82,543 operations .

It is the first decline experienced by sales of new homes after three consecutive years of progress and the sharpest since 2015, according to Europa Press.

91% of the homes transmitted by sale during the past year were free homes and

9%, protected.

In total, the sale of free homes fell by 17.3% in 2020, to 378,516 transactions, while

the sale of protected homes fell by 22.4%

, to 37,232 transactions.

In 2020, the highest number of home sales per 100,000 inhabitants occurred in the

Valencian Community

(1,469),

La Rioja

(1,306) and

Murcia

(1,258).

Andalusia

was the region that carried out the most housing operations last year, with 83,760 purchases, followed by

Catalonia

(65,064), the

Valencian Community

(58,745) and

Madrid

(56,723).

The communities that carried out the least number of home sales were

La Rioja

(3,244),

Navarra

(4,518 operations) and

Cantabria

(5,659).

In relative values, the sale of homes fell in 2020 in all communities, especially in the most touristy ones.

Thus, the greatest setbacks occurred in the

Balearic Islands

(-23.2%),

Comunidad Valenciana

(-22.1%) and the

Canary Islands

(-21.9%), while the smallest were recorded in

Extremadura

(-6.5% ) and

Asturias

(-9%).

The INE recalls that, due to the pandemic, in 2020 there was a disparate evolution in the sale of homes in the different periods of the year.

During the state of alarm, when

the opening to the public of the Property Registries was suspended

, there was a significant collapse in home sales, the most pronounced in May (-53.7%).

After the confinement, the sale of houses began a "progressive recovery".

17.9% DECREASE IN TOTAL PROPERTIES TRANSMITTED IN 2020

Adding rural and urban properties (homes and other urban properties), the properties transferred in 2020 totaled 1,692,446, a figure that represents a decrease of 17.9% over 2019. With this fall,

five consecutive years are ended of annual increases

after the growths of 4.9%, 2.9%, 6.7%, 10.1% and 3.9% registered in 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019, respectively.

Last year, 17.1% fewer farms were transferred by sale than in 2019, while transfers by

donation

increased

by

2.2%,

barter

transactions

fell

by

20.3%, and those transmitted by

inheritance

fell

by

15 ,1%.

According to data from the INE, the number of sales of rustic properties fell by 13.1% in 2020, to a total of 122,587 operations.

On the other hand, merchantings of

urban properties

(which include homes) decreased by 17.8%, to 727,083 operations.

In the last month of 2020, the sale of homes grew by 3.7% in relation to December 2019, its highest year-on-year advance since July 2019, to add 36,109 operations.

With this rebound, two consecutive months of year-on-year increases have already accumulated.

In a month-on-month rate (December 2020 over November of the same year), the sale of homes fell by 8.9%, its lowest decline in this month since 2015.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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