MADRID, 12 Jun. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The purchase and sale of homes registered a decrease of 8.1% in April compared to the same month last year, to a total of 43,311 operations, its lowest figure in two years, in a context of higher interest rates to contain the inflation, as reported on Monday by the National Statistics Institute (INE).

With this year-on-year drop, which expands by more than two points the one registered in March (-5.7%), the sale of homes chains three months of negative rates.

The drop in the sale of homes in April was due to the drop in both second-hand flats and new homes.

Specifically, the sale of used homes fell by 9% in the fourth month of the year, to a total of 35,057 operations, while the transactions carried out on new apartments decreased by 4.2%, to 8,254 operations.

91.9% of the homes transferred by sale in April were free homes and 8.1% were protected. In total, the sale of private homes fell by 8.5% year-on-year, to 39,809 transactions, while the sale of subsidized homes fell by 3.6%, to a total of 3,502 transactions.

In the month-on-month rate (April over March), home sales plummeted 22.4%, its biggest drop in an April since 2020, as soon as the pandemic was declared.

(((WILL BE EXTENSION)))