House sales fall in the first quarter, confirming market downturn in 2026

These numbers had already been predicted by real estate experts and the National Statistics Institute (INE) confirmed on Monday that house sales have begun to plateau for the third consecutive month and are failing to match the record figures with which the market closed in 2025, when some 750,000 transactions were recorded, the highest number since 2007.

This decline in the third month of the year follows the trend seen in January and February, meaning that home sales fell by 2.6% at the end of the first quarter of the year. However, March ended with a slight upturn compared to the previous month, with 2.7% more transactions than in February.

The year-on-year decline was due to the fall in transactions involving new homes, which dropped by 10.2% year-on-year to 13,057 transactions. In contrast, sales of existing homes rose by 0.2% to 48,238 transactions, the highest figure for March since the series began in 2007.

6.2% of homes sold in March were social housing while sales of social housing fell by 10.4% to a total of 3,795 transactions.

By region, more homes were sold last March than in the previous year in eight regions, whilst fewer were sold in nine, mainly in Cantabria, where home sales fell by 15.4%.

The biggest increases in the number of sales were seen in Castilla-La Mancha (+11.5%), Navarre (+8.2%) and La Rioja (+5.2%). However, Andalusia was the region with the highest number of housing sales during the third month of the year, with 12,494.

The slowdown in sales during the first three months of the year does not concern property sector experts, who speak of a return to ‘normal’ figures given that sales remain above the 60,000 mark, leading them to assert that the market retains its vitality.

Leading property listings websites suggest that the property market has entered a period of stabilisation following five years of record figures, and that the shortage of housing supply is behind this slowdown.

Furthermore, they attribute the number of transactions in the coming months to the development of geopolitical conflicts, such as the war in the Middle East, and their impact on inflation.

They have therefore warned that if inflation rises, the European Central Bank (ECB) will end up raising interest rates, currently at 2%, and making mortgages more expensive, which will further limit access to housing, particularly for groups that already struggle to afford it, such as young people.