The year 2022 closed with 717,558 property sales transactions, 6.42% more than the previous year, reaching the highest level of operations since 2007, when 836,871 were recorded, according to provisional data from the Real Estate Transactions Statistics of the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda (Mitma).
In the fourth quarter, 173,804 sales were recorded, 2.96% more than in the previous quarter, although with a drop of close to 10% in year-on-year terms.
By autonomous communities, all have followed the national upward trend, except Madrid – where property sales fell by 0.7% in 2022, to 90,406 transactions – and Cantabria, with a decline of 2.77% to 9,411 transactions.
There were also declines in the autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla, with a fall of 5.79% and 7.83%, with 618 and 647 transactions, respectively.
On the other extreme is the Canary Islands, with a rise in sales of 26.94% to 31,126 transactions in 2022. Double-digit increases were also recorded in the Valencian Community, where 113,252 transactions were carried out, 14.37% more than the previous year.
New housing sales fell by 5.71%
By type of housing, new builds ended 2022 with 67,725 sales, 5.71% less than the previous year, according to Mitma's provisional data. However, second-hand property transactions rose 7.87% to 649,833 operations in 2022.
Despite the general fall in new property transactions, Aragon, Asturias, the Balearic Islands, the Canary Islands, Castile and Leon, Extremadura, Murcia, the Basque Country and La Rioja – nine regions in total – bucked the trend with rises of between 0.69% and over 30%.
The largest rises, in year-on-year terms, were in Extremadura, with a 35.25% increase and a total of 541 transactions, and in Aragon, with a growth of 34.78% to 2,011 new-build transactions. The autonomous city of Ceuta also recorded an increase of 59.09% with 35 new-build transactions.
The sharpest falls in real estate transactions of new properties in 2022 were observed in the Community of Madrid, with a drop of 22.18%, to 10,964 transactions, followed by Galicia, with a decrease of 21.63%, to 1,938 sales, and Cantabria, with 835 transactions, 21.37% less than the previous year. In Melilla, new-build transactions plummeted by 33.83% to 131 sales.
In the case of second-hand properties, the national increase of 7.87% was driven by autonomous communities such as the Canary Islands, with a rise of 27.5% and a total of 29,075 sales of second-hand properties, or the Valencian Community, with an increase of 16.06% to 103,118 transactions.
Second-hand property sales only fell in three regions. In Cantabria, 8,576 transactions were carried out, 0.48% less than the previous year; in the Basque Country, 21,805 with a decrease of 0.49%; and in La Rioja, 4,680 used property sales, 0.36% less. In addition, there was a fall of 8.04% in the autonomous city of Ceuta, with 583 used property sales.
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