Spanish home sales up the most since 2008 as economy recovers

[MADRID] Spanish home sales jumped the most since 2008 in April as the nation's economy continues to recover from the financial crisis.

Transactions increased 29 per cent in the month from the year earlier period, according to Spain's National Statistics Institute on Thursday. That was the fastest clip since the institute, known as INE, started publishing the data in Jan 2008. A separate report showed that home values increased by 6.3 per cent in the first quarter from a year earlier, the largest gain since the third quarter of 2007.

"What we are seeing is the combination of banks lending again marrying with pent-up demand from buyers who are now more comfortable that the economy is really recovering and are confident prices have bottomed," said Jose Luis Ruiz Bartolome, co-author of The Return of Bricks and Mortar, a 2015 book about the decline and recovery of Spain's real estate and mortgage markets.

The market is recovering from the economic meltdown that sent home values tumbling by an average of 40 per cent and forced the nation to seek a US$47 billion bailout for its banks.

BLOOMBERG