Housing sales drop by 12.6% in March after three months of upward trend

SPAIN March came in with a year-on-year drop of 12.6% compared to the same month in 2012. A total of 22,086 sales took place, the lowest number since April last year, according to the National Statistics Institute, which reported slightly more than 21,500 at the time. This year's drop comes after three consecutive months of annual figures heading upwards, and is probably due to the end of tax incentives that came into effect on January 1, and stopped in March. There is an inertia effect due to sales being started before January and closed after the beginning of the year, likewise towards the end of March.