The housing market is going through a moment of uncertainty, with mixed signals at the moment, with a sales volume that remains slightly below that at the beginning of last year, despite it ending up being one of the most buoyant of recent decades. The sales data released this Thursday for the month of February show that 59,689 home sales were carried out, 0.5% less than in the same period of 2025, with almost 300 fewer operations. It is not, however, the least active February in recent years, far from it, since in 2024 the market moved much less (52,402 sales).
With the data published this Thursday by the National Institute of Statistics (INE), the projections made by various real estate sector agents are corroborated. 2026 is expected to be a year in which the pace of sales will slow down slightly compared to the previous one, largely due to the growing tension between scarce supply and still-growing demand. Despite this year-on-year slowdown, more homes were sold in February than in the first month of the year (57,489), an increase of 3.8%, and if all transmitted properties (whether rustic, urban plots, or other types) are added, the volume compared to January has also been higher (+6.4%), and even exceeds that of the previous January, albeit slightly (+0.7%).
Geographically, home sales between the last two months of February have generally fallen more in Andalusia (-911 operations), with Malaga being the province with the largest reduction (-551). In contrast, Catalonia has experienced the largest year-on-year increase (856), with Barcelona as the epicenter (552).
INE data also shows that practically all homes transferred by sale in February were free-market (93.7%), with only 6.3% being protected housing. These latest records indicate that, in annual terms, the number of free-market homes transferred by sale did not vary in February year-on-year, while that of protected housing decreased by 7.9%. Similar to free-market housing, second-hand housing also continues to be the epicenter of most operations ahead of new homes: 45,881 versus 13,808, respectively. However, the slight drop in sales in February compared to the previous year has resulted in a 0.2% decrease in the volume of operations in annual terms.
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