Resale homes bought in the second quarter of this year was 99,343 – the highest quarterly figure recorded for 10 years, so say Spain’s property registrars.

This now means that the second-hand property market in Spain has now reached pre-crisis levels, with the number of homes sold between April 1^st and June 30^th as high as those sold during the same period in 2007.

During 2008, the world saw the worst global economic crisis for more than 70 years, plunging Europe into recession, with Spain hugely effected.  In the past 24 months however, homes sales in Spain have been steadily increasing since 2013. These latest figures show that resale properties accounted for 83% of all sales, with the remaining 17% sold as new builds (out of a total of 119,408 transactions across the quarter).

This is where 2017 differs hugely from 2007.  A decade ago, new builds actually surpassed resales.  Which means that almost double the amount of properties changed hands between April 1^st and June 30^th in 2007 than the same period this year, but the figures for resale homes were roughly the same.

This year, 20,065 new builds sold in the second quarter is just 20% of the figure sold in 2007, which tends to indicate that Spanish developers, the construction industry and buyers have all learnt their lessons from the past not to build, buy and flip too quickly.

The average loan capital for the second quarter was €115,769 which is below the average of €150,000 a decade ago – an indication that lending is not at generous and that prices are not as high as 2007.

British buyers comprised of 14.9% of all foreign buyers, which is an increase on the first quarter but slightly below the same period last year, which could be down to Brexit fears.  In real terms, this equated to 2,300 of the 15,600 homes sold to non-Spaniards.