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.

Summer sales start tomorrow - by law

ALGECIRAS You will have seen the signs building up over the last couple of weeks: ofertas, descuentos - but not yet the word rebajas. This is the official word for what anywhere else is known as The Sales. Officially, the summer sales don't start until July 1, not before. This year is the third in which retailers are well aware of the possibilities of raising their figures a little earlier, taking advantage of the country's financial straits. Shops are allowed to offer discounts at any time of year, of course, but the more sizable percentages come on January 7 (after Reyes, Three Kings, present-giving day on January 6) and on July 1st. Discounts at these periods usually range from 30% to 50%, and sometimes, as the sales period fizzles out about a month or six weeks after they start, they go as far as 60% or even 70% off. Shops of all sizes take the opportunity to sell off older ranges, and it's not only clothes: through your door you will be getting literature from the larger chains as well as from more local shops, from furniture stores to hardware shops. (Prospero note: why is it that the sales always catch me out without a penny?)