During this period, around 33 thousand houses were sold, for a total value of 6.7 billion euros.

Between January and March, “the Housing Price Index (IPHab) increased 7% year-on-year, a rate lower by 0.8 percentage points (p.p.) than observed in the previous quarter”, notes the office, indicating that this is the “least significant price increase since the 1st quarter of 2021”.

The average annual rate of change in the house price index was 7.8% in the first quarter, which represents a slowdown of 0.4 percentage points compared to the last quarter of last year. “During this period, the increase in prices for existing homes (8.2%) exceeded that for new homes (6.6%)”, adds INE.

In the chain comparison, the housing price index rose 0.6%, which contrasts with the 1.3% recorded in the previous quarter and the same period last year.

In the first three months of the year, 33,077 homes were transacted, 4.1% less compared to the same period in 2023 and a chain reduction of 3.1%. As for the value of houses sold, it totalled 6.7 billion euros, a drop of 1.8% compared to the first quarter of 2023.

The majority of houses (85.5%) were purchased by families, worth 5.7 billion euros. Even so, there is a 3.4% year-on-year reduction in the number of houses purchased by families (28,283 homes), as well as a 1.5% year-on-year drop in the total value transacted.

In the first quarter of this year, the purchase of houses “by buyers with tax domicile in the territory nationwide decreased by 3.1% year-on-year, to a total of 31,010″. Even so, this record represents 93.8% of the total number of transactions and is “the highest relative weight since the 1st quarter of 2022”, concludes INE.