A flat rate of 7% will be welcomed by buyers
Some good news for property buyers recently announced is that the Andalusian government has approved a decree that includes a reduction in the Property Transfer Tax on the purchase and sale of second-hand homes.
Previously, there were three rates set at 8%, 9% and 10% (depending on the property value) but these will now be replaced by a flat rate of 7%.
Additionally, there will be a small reduction in Stamp Duty Tax from 1.5% to 1.2%. This could significantly reduce the costs associated with the purchase of a second-hand property. However, this new reduction will be available only until 31st December 2021 and only in Andalucía. You can read more about purchasing costs here.
Property Sales – April
The total number of property transfers in April reached 174,323, which is a staggering 96% higher than in the same month of 2020. Of course, this is because in April 2020 everyone was in complete lockdown in the early stages of the pandemic and real estate transactions stopped.
In the case of registered property sales, the number reached 89,106, an annual increase of 90.6%. It is nice to see that the easing of lockdown restrictions has brought the buyers back and the market is well into a recovery.
85.2% of the sales registered in April correspond to urban properties and 14.8% to rustic properties. In the case of urban properties, 55.6% are sales of residential property, according to data from the INE.
The number of sales of rustic properties increased 172.8% in the annual rate in April and that of urban properties 81.2%. Within the latter, sales of residential property registered an annual increase of 65.9%.
20.2% of the homes sold in April were new properties and 79.8% are used. The number of sales on new homes increased by 82.2% compared to April 2020 and that of used homes by 62.3%.
Results by Autonomous Communities
In April, the total number of property transfers registered in the property registers per 100,000 inhabitants reached its highest values in Castilla y León (730), Castilla – La Mancha (717) and La Rioja (713).
Castilla – La Mancha (147.1%), Extremadura (141.5%) and Madrid (125.2%) registered the highest annual variation rates. Galicia (66.1%), Valencia (69.9%) and Andalucía (84.8%) registered the lowest increases.
Regarding registered home sales, the communities with the highest number of transfers per 100,000 inhabitants are La Rioja (142), Valencia (138) and Andalucía (131).
The Autonomous Communities with the highest annual increases in the number of home sales in April were Extremadura (178.5%), Castilla-La Mancha (165.1%) and Navarra (121.2%). Andalusia saw an increase of 62.1% in home sales reaching 8,726 transactions.
For their part, the Balearic Islands (23.9%), Valencia (39.7%) and the Basque Country (50.5%) registered the lowest increases.
