Property market 2022 round-up: Best results in 15 years
Wednesday, February 22, 2023 @ 8:56 AM
ESTATE agencies have enjoyed their biggest boom in half a generation with home sales soaring in 2022, according to the National Statistics Institute (INE).
Growth in the residential property market was at its strongest in five years, and sales numbers highest in 15 years – even though a slowdown in December affected the total annual figures.
In total, last year saw 649,494 homes sold – the highest number since 2007, when the last major property boom began – representing a year-on-year rise of 14.7%.
Enthusiasm in the market cooled considerably in December, when sales shrank by 21.3% on those of November.
But the final month of the year is not typically one of the busiest in the property industry, given that the general public's minds are largely occupied with the early-December bank holidays and the upcoming festive season.
This said, sharp interest rate rises – the greatest seen in nearly a decade – took their toll on buying and selling rates, as mortgage repayments have experienced a dramatic increase as a result.
How 2022 compared with the previous two years
A major slowdown was inevitable in 2020 with the pandemic bringing months of severe restrictions on movement and trade, including a complete ban on property viewings from March to May inclusive; the outcome of this was sales plummeting by 16.9% that year compared with 2019.
Re-opening of non-essential trade and gradual relaxing of Covid-linked restrictions would see home sales soar by an unprecedented 34.8% in 2021, following a very unusual year in which pent-up demand was finally released.
Read more at thinkSPAIN.com