In the first quarter a total of 4358 households were sold in the Canary Islands, representing an increase of 1.4% over the same period in 2009, where 4298were processed, according to data released yesterday by the Ministry of Housing.

Throughout Spain the figures were up by 1.5%, accumulating 106 302 properties sold, mostly as a result of cheaper second-hand homes, whose sales rose by 31.3% in the past months, with a figure of 60.012 homes, while in the section on new constructions we counted 46.290 transactions, which is a decrease of 21.5% compared to end-March 2009.

This was the second consecutive upturn in Spain since 2006.

However, the behavior of the real estate sector in the Canary Islands reveals that sales fell by 18.3% compared to the second quarter of 2009 and 13.5% over the period from October tp December.

This confirms the downward trend in the Canary Islands in recent years, whereas in 2007 10.746 homes were sold in the period from January to March which is 59 % more than in the same period this year.

Regarding the domestic market in the last twelve months 465.318 homes were sold, resulting in a average cut of 8.8%.

Breakdown by province

The breakdown by provinces, the situation was reversed between Santa Cruz de Tenerife and Las Palmas, recording 2271 and 2088, respectively, resulting in an increase of over 14% in the first case and decline of about 13% in the second.

Another significant variable is the number of homes purchased by foreign residents in Spain during the first quarter, amounting to a total of 6712, which implies a rebound in interannual terms of 33.3%.

Between January and March, the purchases made by this group represent 6.4% of total operations. Nearly three-quarters of those purchases were concentrated in the Canary Islands.