Despite a slowdown in growth since spring, the annual increase still surpasses that recorded in September.

The housing market continues to show year-on-year growth, despite the economic context. According to the Property Registration Statistics published by the Registrars' Association, both home sales and mortgage signings have rebounded in October.

Specifically, in the tenth month of the year, there were 48,745 housing transactions, a 9.7% increase compared to the same month last year. Additionally, 38,684 mortgages were registered, which is a 13% year-on-year increase. Although the upward trend has been moderating since May, the year-on-year increase in both cases exceeds that recorded in September.

Preliminary data indicates that only four autonomous communities have reported a decline in housing sales compared to October 2021. The most significant drop was recorded in the Balearic Islands, with a decrease of -20.9%, followed by La Rioja (-11.8%), Castilla-La Mancha (-1.5%), and Cantabria (-0.7%). In contrast, the largest year-on-year increases in transactions occurred in the Canary Islands (+35.1%), Extremadura (+25.5%), the Basque Country (+21.4%), and the Valencia Community (+17.7%).

The Registrars' Association emphasizes that, when analyzing total home sales and overall sales, "there is a better resilience in home sales," as their growth in October was more significant than that experienced by total sales (89,842 units, with a 1.6% year-on-year increase). "The general trend for 2022 is a gentle slowdown in increases, already below double digits in both categories," it points out.

In terms of mortgages on homes, the year-on-year increase is higher than that of sales. According to the registration statistics, loans for home purchases grew by 13% year-on-year in the tenth month of the year, totaling 38,684, "accelerating 10 points the growth they had experienced in September," it emphasizes.

Only three regions reported a decrease in the number of mortgages: Castilla-La Mancha (-28.6%), Murcia (-6.5%), and Castilla y León (-4.2%), while the communities with the highest increases compared to October 2021 were the Canary Islands (+47.7%), the Basque Country (+39.8%), and Aragón (+38%).

Like sales, total mortgages recorded a year-on-year increase of 9.9% in October, totaling 51,241, lower than the loans for home purchases. However, the increase experienced in the tenth month contrasts with the year-on-year decline in September, when mortgages decreased by 1.2%.

Thus, the Registrars' Association highlights that, for now, mortgages maintain a "greater resilience" than home sales and concludes that "home mortgages seem to perform better, with the rates of variation between home sales and total sales remaining closer than what is observed in home sales."