The Rain in Spain Left Real Estate in the Drain

January was officially slow for the real estate industry in Spain. January isn’t normally great, but this January was a bit more of a dog than usual.

Nationally, according to Spain’s notary data that’s just come out, it was down 11.4% against January last year. So even though we know January is normally quiet, it was even quieter than last year.

Regionally, Andalusia was even worse, down 14.5% , the third biggest drop in sales of all of the Spanish regions. Nevertheless, property prices continued to rise Andalucia with an increase of 6,1% against January 2025.

Málaga province was quiet, every municipality from Málaga City all the way through to La Línea and it was a quiet January all along the coast.

So it’s a quiet month. We felt it on the ground, and the figures support it. Beyond the data, anyone on the Costa del Sol will tell you it didn’t stop raining, which meant most days viewing trips were postponed

As we come into April, most agents on the ground I speak to say that February was also quiet, and March things started to pick up again…

Zooming out, home sales declined in fifteen Spanish regions and grew in the remaining two. The steepest drops were in Cantabria (-18.0%), the Community of Madrid (-15.9%), and Andalucia (-14.2%), while Castilla-La Mancha (6.1%) and La Rioja (5.6%) posted gains.

The price per square meter rose 9.0% year-on-year across Spain, with increases recorded in thirteen regions. Growth was strongest in La Rioja (27.5%) and Castilla-La Mancha (23.3%), whereas Navarra (-4.0%) and Extremadura (-3.7%) saw prices fall.

Mortgage lending for home purchases fell 6.8% year-on-year, ending a run of 21 consecutive months of growth. Fourteen regions recorded declines, with the sharpest in Andalusia (-14.5%), the Valencian Community (-13.4%), Castilla y León (-13.3%), and Cantabria (-13.2%). The remaining three regions posted increases: Castilla-La Mancha (15.3%), Catalonia (2.5%), and Asturias (1.1%).

New company registrations edged up 0.2% year-on-year. The largest increases were in Navarra (43.1%), La Rioja (35.5%), and Asturias (15.4%), while the biggest declines were in Cantabria (-37.6%), the Canary Islands (-6.9%), and Extremadura (-5.0%).