Home sales rise 1.3% in August to 48,700 transactions and mortgages 1.6%, according to the registrars

06/10/2026 – ⏱ 4 min

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice or a recommendation of any kind.

The land registry statistics published on 5 October 2026 by the Colegio de Registradores record, for August, a rare data point in the 2026 calendar: home sales rise in year-on-year terms. Some 48,700 transactions were registered, 1.3% more than in August 2025, and home mortgages totalled around 33,600, 1.6% more. It is the second month of the year with growth in home sales, after June, in a year marked by falls in most months.

The August figures: 48,700 sales and 33,600 mortgages

The provisional estimate from the Colegio de Registradores, prepared on 94.8% of registries, counts 48,674 home sales in August, 1.3% more than a year earlier. Considering all types of property, total sales amount to around 94,600, 3.3% more year on year. On the mortgage side, home loans reach 33,649, 1.6% more, while all mortgages on any type of property stand at around 43,400, a fall of 0.3%. From these figures it can be deduced that a mortgage is linked to approximately 69% of the month's home sales.

A figure that contrasts with previous months

The August reading gains significance when compared with the recent series. In July, registry home sales had fallen by 7.7%, their largest decline of the year, and the INE statistics published at the end of September pointed to another fall, of 5.1%, to 61,417 transactions. The sources are not comparable with each other, since the registrars measure transactions recorded in their registries and the INE works with its own methodology and calendar, but both agree that the second half began with declines. The August rebound interrupts that sequence, although the Colegio de Registradores itself describes August as an atypical month and warns that a single increase does not confirm a change of trend.

Differences by autonomous community

The territorial distribution is heterogeneous. In home sales, the largest year-on-year increases are in Extremadura (+19.3%), Cantabria (+13.7%) and Murcia (+13.4%), followed by Aragón (+10%), Melilla (+9.1%), Asturias (+9%) and Catalonia (+7.1%). The largest declines are recorded in La Rioja (-18.7%), Castilla y León (-10.4%) and the Balearic Islands (-9.4%). Looking at sales of all types of property together, Cantabria (+29.9%), Murcia (+20.8%) and Melilla (+18.6%) stand out on the positive side, and La Rioja (-24%), Navarre (-22.1%) and Castilla y León (-7.4%) on the negative.

In absolute volume, Andalusia leads with 9,402 home sales and 6,629 mortgages, ahead of Catalonia (8,292 sales and 6,101 mortgages), the Valencian Community (7,427 and 4,261) and Madrid (5,037 and 4,174). It should be borne in mind that the regions with fewer transactions, such as La Rioja or Melilla, show wider percentage changes with small changes in the number of transactions.

Mortgages and sales: a relationship that holds

That home mortgages grow by 1.6% against 1.3% for sales indicates that bank financing accompanies the transaction in a proportion similar to that of previous periods. The figure comes in a context of more expensive financing: the Euribor closed September at around 3.25%, its highest level of the year, and September inflation stood at 4.9%, according to the INE. Both factors raise the instalments of variable-rate mortgages and reviews, and are usually cited among the elements that condition the purchase decision. The August statistics do not include average amounts, interest rates or terms, so they do not allow an assessment of whether the growth in mortgages is occurring under different conditions from previous months.

Why this matters to the real-estate investor

The volume of sales is an indicator of residential market liquidity: when transactions fall, assets take longer to sell and the exit from an investment may be prolonged; when they recover, turnover improves. A single month of rebound does not allow the conclusion that liquidity has normalised, but it adds a data point to a series that in 2026 has been downward in most months, with prices that, according to various sources, remain at peak levels.

For residential projects financed through crowdfunding platforms, the evolution of sales is one of the variables observed, since it affects the marketing periods of the homes once completed. In developments intended for sale, the return depends on the property being sold within a given period and at a given price; if an estimated return is mentioned for a specific transaction, that estimate is subject to investment risk and is not guaranteed.

Investor takeaway

The August data are provisional and refer to a month of low seasonal activity, with fewer working days in the registries and a reduced comparison base. The figures may be revised once the analysis of 100% of registries is completed. In addition, the land registry statistics measure registered transactions, which reflect deeds signed weeks earlier, so the figure reflects purchase decisions made before August. Past results are no guarantee of future results, and all real-estate investment carries risks of illiquidity, default and total or partial loss of the capital invested. At European level, the activity of crowdfunding platforms is governed by Regulation (EU) 2020/1503 and, in Spain, by the implementing and supervisory rules of the CNMV.

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