MADRID, 17 May. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The time in which Spaniards keep their houses before selling them reached record levels in 2021 due to the “low production” of new homes in Spain in recent years, which has limited the options of buyers when it comes to changing their address , according to an analysis of the donpiso real estate network.
The latest data published by the Property Registrars indicate that the average period of possession of homes in Spain stood at the end of 2021 at a record figure of 16.4 years, 5% more than in 2020 and more than two times above the average recorded after the bursting of the housing bubble.
Since it hit bottom in 2009, with an average of 7.3 years, this indicator has been growing uninterruptedly, more than doubling in just over a decade.
According to donpiso, these data are due to the lack of real estate supply, especially new construction which, despite the fact that it is improving in terms of volume, continues at low levels.
“In the years of the bubble, more than 300,000 new homes were sold, while now we are at an average of about 70,000 units per year. This means that there is not enough supply and that there is less turnover of homes, which can also influence this indicator”, explained Emiliano Bermúdez, deputy director general of donpiso.
In fact, in recent years, one in five home sales have been new flats, which means that most of the operations have been carried out in the second-hand market.
Bermúdez has also pointed out that banks have tightened the requirements when it comes to granting loans for the purchase of a home since the real estate bubble and the economic and financial crisis burst, “which has prevented many families from looking for a new home more adapted to their needs, especially if it is a newly built property, whose price is usually higher”.
However, Bermúdez predicts a change in trend in the medium term: “The turnover of homes will increase in the coming years (…) Of course, time still has to pass for the start of the new cycle to become clear”, he has indicated.
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