Sales slide

HOME sales registered in May showed a fall of 6.4% compared to the same month last year according to the National Institute of Statistics (INE).

Some 56,137 deals were completed but May’s percentage fall was lower than April’s 8.1%. It was the seventh successive month of negative figures, according to the INE report published this month.

The sale of older homes fell by 8.6% in the fifth month of the year accounting for 45,479 of the overall total.

In a month-on-month comparison, home purchases went up by 29.6% compared to April - the biggest May increase since 2017.

In the first five months of the year, home sales have fallen by 4.1%, with new properties down by 2.4% and used homes down by 4.5%.

Andalucia had the most transactions in May with 11,736 sales, followed by the Valencian Community (9,453) and Catalunya (9,000).

In terms of sales per 100,000 people, the largest total was in the Valencian Community (232), Cantabria (183) and Andalucia (173).

*Slowingdown,seebelow

Million euro home club

THE exclusive enclave of Benahavis (pictured) is once again dominating the national rankings for the most expensive municipality in Spain. Based on listings published by real estate portal Idealista, the average price of properties in Benahavis, home to exclusive urbanisation La Zagaleta, is an eye-watering €1.9 million. But there are a few other exclusive resorts where the average price is over a million.

The select million euro home club includes Calvia, in Mallorca, with an average price of €1.58 million, while Marbella, has an average asking price of €1.37 million.

Closer and closer to joining the club is Sotogrande, in Cadiz, where the year started with an average price of €995,000.

Close behind is Sant Cugat, in Catalunya, in fifth place with an average of €810,240. Madrid has the priciest homes for a city, with the average price sitting at €428,100.