Property News
Malaga is topping the charts for property sales in Andalucia
New figures revealed by the National Institute for Statistics show that as many as 1,287 homes were bought in the province in September as buyers rush to avoid being hit by the forthcoming VAT rise.
While the figure is still marginally lower than at the same time last year, with 11 fewer sales, it marks the highest number of sales across the whole of Andalucia.
Moreover, it comes as most provinces still have falling numbers of sales, with Malaga seeing twice as many properties sold as Aragon and as many as in Galicia, Castile and Leon and Castile and La Mancha put together.
It also follows a growth in sales in the previous two months compared to the same time last year offering a glimmer of hope for the struggling property market.
As well as continually falling pricespart of the rush to buy now can be explained by the forthcoming increase in VAT, set to rise from four per cent to 10 per cent in January, and the announcement of the end of mortgage tax relief.
Added to these factors is the traditional seasonal rise during the summer.
“The summer months are always the best for sales in Malaga because it’s a tourist destination,” explained Violeta Aragon, the general secretary of the Association of Property Builders and Promoters.
“Most of the sales are made to foreigners for second residences”.
She continued: “Although we would like to have even better results and for the market to recover fully, we feel lucky in the light of the current economy”.
But it is not all good news, as many fear the continuing fall in property prices will be unable to compensate for the steep hike in VAT and the removal of tax relief which could cut short this upward trend.
“While we have seen the positive side of these two factors with increased property sales recently, the start of 2013 is going to be very difficult with the market at a standstill,” added Aragon.
On a national level, the sale of homes rose 0.9% in September compared to the same month in 2011, with a total of 25,985 sales.
This marks the second consecutive month to see figures rise, following 17 previous months of falling numbers.
By Adam Neale | Property News | December 19th, 2012
