MADRID, 17 Nov. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The sale and purchase of homes registered a decrease of 23.7% in September compared to the same month last year, to a total of 44,086 operations, its lowest figure in this month since 2020, in a context of higher interest rates. as reported this Friday by the National Institute of Statistics (INE).

With this year-on-year decline, the most pronounced since June 2020 and more than nine points higher than that registered in August (-14.4%), the sale and purchase of homes has had eight months of negative year-on-year rates.

The decline in home sales in September has been due to the drop in both second-hand apartment transactions and new home transactions.

Specifically, the sale and purchase of used homes fell by 24.5% in the ninth month of the year, totaling 35,908 operations, while transactions carried out on new apartments decreased by 19.7%, to 8,178 operations.

92.5% of the homes transferred by sale in September were free homes and 7.5% were protected. In total, the purchase and sale of free homes fell by 23.5% year-on-year, to 40,768 transactions, while the purchase and sale of subsidized homes fell by 25.3%, to a total of 3,318 transactions.

On a month-on-month basis (September over August), home sales plummeted by 10.5%, in contrast to the monthly increases experienced in all Septembers since 2019.

According to the INE, seven out of every ten home sales carried out in September (69.6%) were carried out between natural persons. In total, 30,710 operations of this type were carried out between natural persons in September, 24% less than in the same month of 2022.

In the first nine months of the year, the sale and purchase of homes has been reduced by 8.5%, after operations on new homes fell by 4% and those on used homes fell by 9.5%.

PURCHASES DOWN IN ALL COMMUNITIES

Last September, the highest number of home sales per 100,000 inhabitants occurred in the Valencian Community (180), Murcia (145) and Castilla-La Mancha (131).

In absolute values, Andalusia was the region that carried out the most housing transactions during the ninth month of the year, with 8,554 sales and purchases, followed by the Valencian Community (7,623), Catalonia (6,670) and Madrid (5,310).

All communities sold fewer homes in September 2023 than in the same month of 2022. The sharpest declines occurred in the Canary Islands (-40.1%), Extremadura (-32.2%), Aragón (-31.1%) and Catalonia (-28.8%), while the most moderate were for Castilla-La Mancha (-7.7%) and Castilla y León (-12.3%).

THE TOTAL PROPERTIES TRANSFERRED FALL BY 13%

The properties transferred in the property registries, from public deeds carried out previously, reached 153,247 last September, 13.2% less than in the same month of the previous year.

By purchase and sale, 20.1% fewer properties were transferred than a year before, while those transferred by donation fell by 16.2% annually; those transmitted by inheritance decreased by 3.8%, and exchange operations decreased by 1.1%.

87.2% of sales in September corresponded to urban properties, which include homes, and 12.8% to rural properties. Sales of urban properties decreased by 21.6% year-on-year, while those of rural properties decreased by 8.5% compared to September 2022, totaling 72,218 and 10,560 transactions, respectively.